SOUTH AFRICA: FORMER GUERRILLA LEADER TO BECOME MILITARY CHIEF

Описание: (30 Apr 1998) English/Nat

President Nelson Mandela has named a former guerrilla leader as the nation's first black military chief.

Army man Siphiwe Nyanda, 47, will succeed General Georg Meiring as head of the South African National Defense Force on June 1st.

Nyanda's predecessor is retiring following allegations that leftist elements in the military and government, including Nyanda, were planning a coup. Mandela's government dismissed the reports.

A former guerrilla leader against apartheid will become South Africa's first black military chief.

Lieutenant General Siphiwe Nyanda, who led African National Congress fighters in sabotage campaigns and attacks, has been named to succeed General Georg Meiring as head of the South African National Defense Force.

Nyanda was appointed deputy defense force chief last year and was being groomed to take Meiring's place.

He will now preside over a defense force that combines former apartheid military figures with former anti-apartheid fighters.

The announcement was made at a news conference.

SOUND BITE: (English)
"Lastly Cabinet received a report on the decision of the President as Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Force, after due consultation, to appoint Lt-General Siphiwe Nyanda as the next Chief of the Defence Force with effect from the first of June."
SUPER CAPTION: Joel Netshitenzhe, Government spokesperson

Defence Minister Joe Modise, who worked with Nyanda in the ANC's military wing Umkhonto weSizwe (Spear of the Nation) was at his side when the announcement was made.

Nyanda will make history as the first black to run the army.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"It is not just a question of there having been a Chief of the Defence Force who served in the old apartheid past, but it is a Chief of the Defence Force who is white in the first place. So I think there is a lot of symbolism in a sense that it is the first time that a black person has been chosen to lead the Defence Force."
SUPER CAPTION: Lieutenant General Siphiwe Nyanda

As Nyanda, has risen through the ranks, he has also watched many soldiers die in the course of their duty, including his brother.

Nyanda was in charge of A-N-C military operations in neighbouring Swaziland when his brother, Zwelakhe was shot dead by South African security forces on November 22 1983.

Now, as he takes his position South Africa's first black military chief, Nyanda said his thoughts once again return to his brother and his former comrades.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The death of my brother I think affects me in the same way -- perhaps to a greater degree -- but it affects me in the same way as the deaths of many other people that I was close to. Some of us developed very close bonds. And my thoughts, in moments such as this, if people ask me about it, then my thoughts go to them and I think about the supreme sacrifices that they have made in order to put is where we are today."
SUPER CAPTION: Lieutenant General Siphiwe Nyanda

Nyanda was not yet 25-years-old when he fled South Africa to undergo military training. He had been in the middle of a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics when he was expelled for political activity.

When he was a boy soldiering was not open to blacks as a career and it was not a career he really wanted.

SOUNDBITE: (in English)
"Even when I made the conscious decision to join the liberation movement I did it to serve in order to bring about the necessary change. But it was not necessarily my intention to remain a soldier and to become an officer of a defence force that would be created in the future."






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