The contribution by the Department of Defence (DoD) to government’s National Development Plan (NDP) continues and expands with its intern programme extended to two years.
Interns who made the grade this year were welcomed to the South African defence community at Thaba Tshwane town hall on 1 February by DoD Chief Director Human Resource Development Major General Mongezi Kweta and Director Education Brigadier General Michael Kunene.
The intern programme, in collaboration with the SA Security Sector Education and Training Authority (SASSETA), brings graduates from various academic backgrounds and varied skillsets to the DoD for hands-on experience at the hub of South Africa’s national security architecture.
DoD Support Staff Officer One, Lieutenant Colonel Nomfusi Ndesi, said the programme and partnership with the sector education and training authority was “rewarding”.
“Educating youth about the diverse career opportunities in the military is a source of fulfilment for us and we embrace the incoming interns extending a warm and supportive welcome,” she is reported as saying by Corporal N Mabanga from Defence Corporate Communication, who goes on to write that the DoD “remains committed to providing a supportive environment where interns can grow, learn and contribute to the important work of national defence and security”.
At the other – hands-on – end of the scale, the national military machine’s contribution to the NDP is its military skills development (MSD) system. This sees around two thousand seven hundred recruits spend two years in uniform acquiring skills for combat and support of armed forces. At the end of their service time, a small number of MSDs will be offered short-term employment contracts in the SANDF with the remainder expected to take their military skills to the Reserve Force.
