Johannesburg – These are two very distinct and different activities, whose only apparent similarities are the coincidence of geography and timing, says the SANDF.
"It is difficult to establish whether the confusion arises from this and a lack of understanding of the nature of the two activities or whether it is a mischievous attempt to conflate the two and, by doing so, interpret the exercise as a deviation from South Africa’s stated policy of neutrality and non-alignment," the SANDF said in a statement.
Armed Forces Day has been commemorated on February 21 every year since 2012 to commemorate the men and women in uniform and those who’ve lost their lives in the line of duty.
This includes the heroism of the men of the South African Native Corps who perished on the SS Mendi in the English Channel en route to serve on the battlefields of the Western Front. As such, Armed Forces Day is an annual celebration and showcase for the men and women who make up the people’s defence force.
The event is preceded by a week of community outreach projects, talks, and demonstrations, culminating with the parade, all of which will take place in Richards Bay, KZN, this year, after rotating through each of South Africa’s nine provinces at least once in its 11-year history.
"Ex MOSI II is a scheduled nine-day military marrying up exercise, one of several that the SANDF conducts with militaries around the world on a regular basis, to ensure that it can learn from and benchmark its own operating capability. The first edition of this particular exercise was held in 2019. The follow-up exercise, MOSI II, was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic," said the statement.
They added that South Africa is continually home to military cooperation events. As the SA Navy prepares for Ex MOSI II, the USAF visited our shores with their two Boeing KC-135R Stratotankers.
"Last year, South Africa participated in Exercise Shared Accord, the US military’s annual African military exercise, hosting it in South Africa for the fourth time since 2011. The focus of this two week-long exercise last June was to deliver humanitarian support to the Richards Bay community, coincidentally the venue for this year’s Armed Forces Day celebrations.
“The SANDF has participated in many other military exercises in the last 12 months, with the French on Ex Oxide last November, the Indians in Ex IBSAMAR last October, and the Brazilians in July. None of this is sinister, nor suggests any agenda over and above the ongoing improvement of the SANDF’s capabilities in executing its constitutional mandate of safeguarding the territorial integrity of this country," read the statement.
According to the SANDF, anyone who chooses to participate in the celebrations and benefit from the outreach programmes at the end of next month in Richards Bay will be able to see how well the people's defence force is doing in this regard.
The Star