Full Ops Vaal report-back: Army kills unfounded pull-out rumours

Full Ops Vaal report-back: Army kills unfounded pull-out rumours

Craig Kotze reports:

VEREENIGING. – The SA Army will stay in the Vaal until its task is completed – and indeed will scale up to maximum mission capability once short-term and administrative budgetary and specialised equipment needs are met, the SANDF said this week.

And the Army – “Our Vaal Army” as affectionately known locally – is also winning the hearts and minds of communities and stakeholders in addition to being on target with its demanding repair schedule, according to the business community working closely with the Army.

The Vaal Army last week also extended its military zone of operations to the Rietspruit water treatment plant near Bophelong, Vanderbijlpark where vandals and thieves targeted the facility since December 2018.

And not a single incident of vandalism and theft has been reported at infrastructure guarded by the Army since deployment in December 2018, said the Army.

Military engineers under Colonel Andries Mohapa are also on track with repair work at the Sebokeng Waste Water treatment plant – reported as 80% complete – and have already spent R6-million in December on the Vaal River sewage pollution project , which has a budget of R873million.

The Sebokeng Waste Water Treatment Plant is one of three major infrastructure installations targeted for military engineering repair work in Emfuleni, amongst a host of pump stations.

This was revealed at a high-level Army media briefing at the Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) on Monday this week by Major-General T Xundu, the Chief Director of Corporate Affairs for the SA Army. The briefing was also attended by ELM Municipal Manager Oupa Nkoane, who hosted the media briefing.

In an unprecedented show of transparency towards stakeholders, media and community, General Xundu and colleagues gave a full-spectrum public report-back on the status of the project, known by its military code name, Ops Vaal.

General Xundu said the final budgetary model for the project was still being finalised by national Treasury but that any withdrawal was not an option – but Ops Vaal could be delayed and lengthened if certain heavy engineering equipment was not procured as soon as possible.

“We thought we would scale up by now but we will do so once the budgetary model has been approved and necessary equipment has been procured – this is where the private sector or business sector can make a contribution,” said General Xundu.

The SA Army hosted a tour of its repair work after the media briefing and was warmly welcomed by residents whose quality of life had already been improved in the short time the Army had been deployed since December.

The Golden Triangle Chamber of Commerce (GTCoC) would explore how best to assist with resourcing the Army from the private sector to accelerate project scale-up, said GTCoC Water and Sewage spokesperson Rosemary Cloete-Anderson.

“The transparency of the Army and the manner in which they are winning over the community is especially commendable. They have clearly already changed the lives of residents for the better,” said Cloete-Anderson.

She added that Ops Vaal budgetary issues would be resolved through normal administrative processes and could indeed be expected due to the urgency with which the Army was deployed in response to the Vaal River pollution crisis.

“It is also financial year end and so we are not unduly worried at this stage about any meaningful impacts on Ops Vaal continuity or efficacy,” said Cloete-Anderson.
EDITORIAL COMMENT:

Vaal Army: Engineering both infrastructure and community consent
The achievements of empires, individuals and organisations both past and present are often remembered through great works of engineering – the Pyramids, the Parthenon, the Panama Canal and many more spring to mind – but are in fact only made possible by another form of engineering: that of creating and sustaining social consent to build in the first place.

In this sense even the greatest monuments of both antiquity and the marvels of high-rise sky-puncher buildings in the modern age are merely communication instruments of a given social order or regime which has convinced a given population of its necessity or desirability before and after actual physical construction.

Thus, a social contract runs through it, whether it be the Nile or the Vaal River. And nothing is as potentially disruptive to social consent as the presence of an armed force sent to set things right without the necessary Reputation Management capacity and Persuasion power.

This is a lesson the SA Army and our local Vaal Army clearly understands – and is applying – in what is formally known as the Cradle of Human Rights, but in reality is South Africa’s Cradle of Revolution.

The SA Army got it right from the outset before actual deployment in mobilising stakeholders and conducting itself in a thoroughly transparent manner so as to generate that most precious of social currencies – Trust.

Subsequent engagement on a variety of levels with both Army and Our Vaal Army structures has only served to confirm the wisdom of this approach, as well as the commitment of our military echelons to maximum involvement of stakeholders and maximum media transparency.

As put this week at a bare-all press briefing by Major-General T Xundu, Chief Director of Corporate Affairs of the SA Army:

“The SANDF and our Constitution have placed our people at the very centre of our military strategy whereas previously in the history of South Africa it was the security of the State that was the main concern,” said General Xundu, giving a rare glimpse into current military philosophy and approach underlying the Vaal Army intervention.

And indeed in practice this philosophy seems to animate the actions and attitudes of Army members at every level deployed in the Vaal, if public reaction in townships is any indication.

And it is also working, as direct observation and reportbacks seem to indicate.

In Sebokeng this week, Colonel Andries Mahapa, the commander of the Vaal Army and a contingent of Generals were warmly welcomed by residents, The Golden Triangle Chamber of Commerce (GTCoC) has put its full weight behind the military intervention after being one of the first organisations briefed by the SA Army even before deployment.

Any suggestion that the Army could withdraw before its mission is complete is already met with almost universal shock and disbelief by all major stakeholders.

This is not by chance but clearly the result of considered Reputation Management by an SANDF which fully realises the mutual benefits of engineering both consent and infrastructure – trust, goodwill, co-operation, unlocking of resources, not to even mention practical military benefits such as intelligence from the community. It is a lesson not only other security agencies can learn from, but also Government itself at every level. – Editorial Comment by Craig Kotze