Deputy Minister of Defence and Military Veterans provides career guidance to the church members

By: Kgabo Mashamaite
Photos by Sgt Elias Mahuma
Posted 03 October 2012

Faith based organisations can also play a meaningful role in building the nation, as they continue to pray and ask God to provide guidance and wisdom to our government leaders as well as providing strength to institutions such as the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to advance its role of protecting the integrity of the country.

Those institutions also provide a fertile ground for the SANDF to advance its recruitment drive of looking for the best talent within the churches to join the organisation through the Military Skills Development (MSD) programme, to help it in addressing critical skills shortage.

This was demonstrated during the Deputy Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Mr Thabang Makwetla visit to the Evangelican Lutheran Church of South Africa (ELCSA) Vosloorus Parish on 30 September 2012, when he used the opportunity to appeal to the congregation to advise the youth of the community about exciting possible careers within the SANDF.

Said the Deputy Minister “The SANDF believes in providing every young man and women with an opportunity who meet certain criteria to apply and build herself a wonderful career within the Defence Force. At the moment, the SANDF does everything possible to bring as many youth of the country as much as possible to be trained to operate sophisticated weapons currently on the market as our
To meet the modern Defence Force requirements in order to fulfill its constitutional obligations of protecting the country on land, air and on sea.”

According to Brig Gen Elsie Mahlangu, D Aqc, there are processes to be followed once the target group submits their applications on or before the stipulated.

“Those application forms with all the relevant attachments are received by the office, are captured on the database and the applicants meeting the set criteria will be invited for interviews for a selection purposes. Members of the community should be aware that the SANDF does not guarantee anyone an employment once the applications have been submitted.” Brig Gen Mahlangu said.

Mr Vusi Ntshangase, Chairman of the ELCSA Vosloorus parish, thanked the Deputy Minister Makwetla for making himself available and sharing career guidance with the congregation.

“We are delighted for the fact that Mr Makwetla and his team have responded to our invitation in such short notice to accommodate our request in his busy schedule. We also would like to thank the management of the Department of Defence and the SANDF for also allowing their members for guiding our youth about the possible careers within the SANDF.

Col Nomtsha Mkutuka, SSO Marketing and Recruitment advised the youth to avoid activities that could land them in trouble with the law, as one of the pre requisites of the MSDS requirements is that a prospective member should be criminally clear.