THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL DEFENCE FORCE (SANDF) is looking to establish a dedicated disaster response unit.
The SANDF is regularly called on to assist with floods, fires and other events.
The Chief of the SANDF, General Rudzani Maphwanya, said that the military is looking towards establishing a disaster management unit.
‘allocate assets to war or disaster relief’
This would have dedicated resources, as the SANDF cannot keep using collateral assets for disaster management. He explained that in the past few years the SANDF
has been responding to disasters and using military equipment that should be dedicated to warfighting, but with a dedicated disaster response unit, the SANDF will not have to decide whether to allocate assets to war or disaster relief.
The SANDF Chief added that the defence force is contributing to the state of disaster declared over the electricity crisis by safeguarding power stations to prevent pilfering and subversion.
Maphwanya also said the SANDF is placing engineers at some power stations to rehabilitate them.