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| author/source:Star (SA) |
| published:Thu 24-Nov-2005 |
| posted on this site:Thu 24-Nov-2005 |
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| Article Type : News |
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| Forex-starved airforce is being paid in hard currency and the instructors are earning in rands |
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Harare - At least four instructors from Zimbabwe's airforce have been on attachment training South African chopper pilots since January. The Zimbabweans have been rented out to the South African Airforce to train a corps of helicopter instructors after many left for greener pastures. A well-placed aviation sources at the Zimbabwe airforce headquarters in Thornhill, Gweru, say the loan agreement is a "sensible arrangement". He says the foreign currency-starved airforce is being paid in hard currency and the Zimbabwe instructors are also happy as they are earning in rands. Zimbabwe's instructors, all with a minimum of six years' experience, have been underused in the last year because of shortages of fuel and spares. The SAAF, like the Zimbabwe airforce, flies Alouettes and Bell 412 choppers and uses the same trainers. Zimbabwe's pilots are respected locally and internationally, and those who do quit the airforce always land top jobs overseas. They have had recent combat experience in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and even Zimbabwe's sternest critics concede that Zimbabwe's airforce - unlike the army and police - has remained professional and has among the best pilots and technical crews in Africa. It is unlikely, according to the source, that fixed-wing instructors would be of much use to the SAAF, as they now use different craft.
Aviation sources say it is improbable that the Zimbabweans attached to the SAAF would want to stay in South Africa after the training courses. One instructor in Gweru, who does not want to be named, says: "We have a different culture in Zimbabwe and we don't fit in in South Africa." Zimbabwe pilots who saw active service in the DRC were handsomely paid in foreign currency and most of them now own good urban homes and luxury vehicles. The DA is outraged that Zimbabweans are training SAAF pilots to become instructors, and says it is an "unacceptable aspect of the recently signed Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries". "The proposal is severely flawed ... Firstly, instructors from the Zimbabwean Airforce do not have sufficient knowledge of, or experience with, SAAF aircraft. "It should also not be forgotten that many experienced SAAF personnel have been forced out of the force simply because of their race. It is absurd that skills that have been actively chased out of the SANDF are now being filled with foreign nationals, when there are South Africans available to fill these positions." Zimbabwe airforce personnel reacted to the DA statement with a laugh yesterday: "They need to bring themselves up to date. South Africa is lucky to have Zimbabwean instructors."
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