Outcry over military donation

There has been an outcry over the donation of helicopter spares and frames by the South African National Defence Forces to the Zimbabwe Defence Forces with the largely Afrikaner interest group AfriForum taking SANDF to court to stop the delivery of the spares. Afriforum won a court order to stop the delivery of helicopters to Zimbabwe arguing that this will prop President Robert Mugabe ahead of the elections whose date has not yet been determined. Siphiwe Dlamini, spokesman for the Department of Defence said the SANDF was not donating helicopters. “We are sending spare parts of the helicopter that has been phased out and the frames…These things are not assembled – they are spare parts and frames. There is nothing like a fully-fledged helicopter.” SANDF corporate communication director Brigadier General Xolani Mabanga said the decision to donate and dispose of Alouette III helicopter airframes and spares to the Zimbabwean Defence Force was made by former defence minister Joe Modise in 1997, when they were being phased out of service. “How the donation of the spares to the ZDF relate to the forthcoming elections in that country is difficult to understand,” Mabanga said. The High Court in Pretoria has granted an order to freeze the delivery of helicopters to the Zimbabwean military. “An urgent interim court order was awarded to AfriForum late this afternoon by the North Gauteng High Court to prevent delivery of Alouette III Air Force helicopters by the SA National Defence Force to the Zimbabwean army. The interim order shall stand pending the finalisation of the main application by February 19 2013,” said AfriForum’s legal representative Willie Spies.

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