President Thabo Mbeki was one of the honoured guests at a parade at which the command of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) changed hands in Pretoria on Monday.
The outgoing chief of the SANDF, Siphiwe Nyanda, handed Lieutenant General Godfrey Ngwenya the symbol of office, a metre-long gilded sword.
Mbeki, his wife Zanele and Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota were among the guests.
”Today, the human resource component is gradually transforming. We are rejuvenating the SANDF. Fine young men and women, both black and white, with no ideological baggage, continue to swell the ranks of the SANDF through the military service development programme,” Nyanda said in his farewell speech.
”Today the stature of the SANDF is at an all-time high. I leave it on such a high. I leave knowing that what I set out to do I have done to the best of my ability,” he said.
Ngwenya will officially assume the post on June 1. Both men were greeted with ululations. Eight special forces paratroopers landed in the stadium after the generals had left.
Defence department spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Louis Kirstein said 850 VIP invitations had been sent out for the event.
Five flag-carrying Oryx helicopters and four Rooivalk helicopters flew over a brigade of 1 000 troops assembled in the stadium as a 17-gun salute was fired. – Sapa