New army chief of staff, ombud sworn in during Centurion ceremony

The SA national defence force held a change of office parade to mark the entry of its new chief of staff Lieutenant-General Lindile Yam.

Yam, who is the former chief of the SA army, replaces the outgoing Lieutenant-General Vusumuzi Masondo who in turn replaces the former military ombud, Lieutenant-General Themba Matanzima, who has since retired.

Yam and Masondo assumed their new roles on 1 November.

The parade was held at the military health service training formation in Thaba Tshwane and later Masondo was sworn-in by SANDF chief General Solly Shoke.

The “smooth transition” for military ombud was hailed as an illustration of the maturity of the SANDF.

Matanzima, who served as ombud for seven years, was hailed as having laid a firm basis for his successor.

Despite the challenges, the office of the ombud has been able to score successes in most of the cases referred to it, those in attendance were told.

“As I round off my duty as chief of staff, I am emboldened by the knowledge that the officer who takes over from me (Yam) is equal to the task,” Masondo said in his address.

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“There is no reason, being the patriot and dedicated militarist that he is, he should not excel even here.”

Masondo said continuous budget cuts were seriously limiting the defence force’s ability to deliver on its constitutional mandate.

“Over the years I have seen the trend of steady decline in budget allocation and its effects on efficiency, responsiveness, morale and combat readiness of our forces.

“It has not been pretty.”

However, Masondo said there were brighter days ahead.

“We must be innovative in our approach when executing tasks and adopt approaches that will ensure we achieve a greater yield with our limited resources.”

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