Efforts to rejuvenate the South African Army will see 3 000 new recruits being taken in next year, with the figure shooting up to 7 000 in 2009, it was announced on Thursday.
”We need a young and fit group of soldiers,” army chief General Solly Shoke told reporters in Pretoria.
The planned intake will form part of the military skills development system which will see young people signing up for a two-year period and undergoing basic military and service training.
Afterwards some will be taken into the permanent force, but the majority will make their way into the reserve force.
Shoke said the army would also be focusing more on getting the ”right people”.
”We are not going to recruit people that see this merely as an employment opportunity, but take those who see it as a calling,” he said.
The army, which makes up the majority of defence-force deployments in peacekeeping operations, is already over-stretched.
It foresees that it will increasingly be used in non-military and peacekeeping operations. This means more ”boots on the ground”.
”If the task of the army is to increase, we must [get] more money and people to do it,” Shoke said.
In the meantime ,older soldiers who are no longer suitable for active deployments will be given artisan training.
They will then be taken up in a new works regiment. This will be responsible for maintenance and repairs of the Department of Defence’s ailing facilities.
Shoke said the pilot group of 100 soldiers will receive their training next year. — Sapa