Programme Director
The Divisional Commissioner of ORS, Lieutenant General Mawela
The Management of the Special Task Force
Members on parade
Family members present
Distinguished guests
Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen
After various interactions with the management of the Special Task Force, I have come to realise that this parade is a very important and special occasion in the lives of all members of the Unit.
To be awarded your gold parachute wings, apparently ranks up there with your wedding day and the birth of your children as one of the most important days of your lives.
This symbol, which is actually so small in physical size that it fits in the palm of one’s hand, is I am told of monumental proportions in your profession as it is proof that you have become part of an elite team, “the best of the best” in law enforcement terms.
In order to stand proudly here today to receive your wings, you have had to go through a lengthy, challenging and exhausting process. This is the moment when you officially exchange your blue uniform for a camouflage uniform, the only unit within the SAPS to do so.
For many, the selection and training process must have been daunting. The dreaded and much-talked-about endurance test, affectionately known as “vasbyt”, during which so many of your colleagues withdrew from the process, was just the start of several months of grueling training.
You are now proficient in the handling of a number of different weapons; you can react swiftly and purposefully to any threat in an urban or rural setting; you can release hostages from a variety of environments; you have proved that you have endurance, motivation and leadership skills and of course let us not forget that you can throw yourselves out of a moving aircraft at an altitude of 10 000 feet.
In addition, you are undoubtedly at the peak of physical fitness and, among your various other duties, from now on you have to constantly train to ensure that you remain this way.
Congratulations to all 30 recipients of parachute wings here this evening. We are all so very proud of you, the classes of 2011 and 2012. No doubt, this is a defining moment in your careers and I am truly blessed to be able to share it with you.
Lieutenant General Mawela, Major General Annandale, Brigadier Fritz, I am entrusting these young members to your management, please ensure that they are further developed and afforded opportunities to grow and expand so that they can fulfill their potential in this organisation.
To the 45 Special Task Force members who are receiving their Operator’s Badges, our sincere congratulations to you as well. By this time you are fully operational members of the Special Task Force and you have met all criteria applicable to be awarded your Operator’s Badges. In addition to the qualifications mentioned earlier you are now fully fledged counter-terrorism operators.
Over the past few months you, as a unit, have excelled in the crime prevention arena, by among other successes thwarting an armed gang which was attempting to rob a Gauteng security depot to successfully freeing a hostage at a Free State prison. Fortunately in both incidents, not a single Task Force member was injured and this I attribute to your training, skills and discipline.
During the robbery attempt at the Protea Coin Depot, a heavily armed gang dared to try to take the lives of our members by opening fire on them. The Special Task Force, in defending themselves, fatally wounded a number of the gang. Not one of us celebrates the death of a human being, but we do celebrate the fact that we managed to foil an attack of this nature without a fatality among our courageous members. Many of those gang members, including those who were arrested without injury, have been linked with other serious and violent crimes, so we can breathe a sigh of relief that they are no longer free to continue with their reign of terror.
The hostage situation at a correctional facility in Mangaung was ended by STF members successfully without a single shot being fired and without any injuries being sustained. Well done. This proves that you only use appropriate force when circumstances dictate it and when you can resolve a situation with minimum force, you do so.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a busy few months ahead of us. As the rest of the country winds down over the festive season, we as the keepers of the peace and the custodians of law and order will be on full alert. With these 75 members on parade joining their colleagues at their units, I know that we are prepared for any eventuality over the festive season and beyond.
Immediately after the holiday Season, as a country we will be hosting the Orange African Cup of Nations 2013 from 19 January to 10 February 2012. With 16 teams, 32 matches on 23 match days, 21 dedicated training sites and 27 hotels over five provinces, I think you will agree that we have a full schedule. The Special Task Force, who proved their mettle during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, is an integral part of our security plans for the AFCON. I thank them in advance for the hard work ahead.
I would like to conclude with these fitting words from Sir Winston Churchill:
"Sure I am this day we are masters of our fate, that the task which has been set before us is not above our strength; that its pangs and toils are not beyond our endurance. As long as we have faith in our own cause and an unconquerable will to win, victory will not be denied us."
