Imtiaz Sooliman – Discussion SANDF Fire Gift of the Givers prepares aid packages for victims
AI: Summary ©
A representative from the South African Defense Force discusses a recent wildfire in the Northern Cape, which has killed over 1300 military personnel. The representative explains that they are collecting donations and releasing clothing from their warehouse in Durban, purchasing supplies for veterans and their family members. They also discuss the budget crisis and the need for state support for veterans.
AI: Summary ©
The South African Defense Force is pleading for help this after
approximately 1300 military personnel lost everything in a
wildfire that engulfed the lahoodla Military Training Center
near Kuruman in the Northern Cape now, aid organization gift of the
givers heard their cries and is collecting donations for the
victims and for more on this, we're joined by a gift of the
givers. Founder, Doctor MTS suluman, good afternoon to you,
and thank you so much for joining us. Just how far are you in
collecting donations for the destitute members of the SA NDF?
Uh, good afternoon, Cindy. We're not collecting donations. We're
releasing donations from our items from our warehouse in
Johannesburg, and we're purchasing some of the things that we don't
have. They've requested clothing, because all apparently, all the
clothing of all the military personnel has been burnt out.
They've requested some energy drinks and energy foods and
blankets and hygiene packs and, of course, sanitary towels for the
ladies. There's a combination of men and ladies in the training
center. It was a training exercise. That's what 1300 people
did. So we always do carry stocks in our warehouse, and we had quite
a substantial amount of stocks in our Johannesburg warehouse. But
there are certain items that we don't have, like toothbrushes,
toothpaste, you know, a soap. We've used a lot of the stuff in
the floods in the Western Cape in the last two weeks, so it's been
depleted, but by the next hour or so, all the items that are
requested will be on the truck and moving towards guru one, yes, and
I mean, what's government's role in this regard? Dr Suleiman,
especially when it comes to how their members have been impacted.
Is there no contingency, or other members only reliant solely on
gift of the givers.
Well, that's been happening for quite some time now. You know
whether it's saps, whether it's Defense Force, whether it's
disaster management, whether it's crisis in any way it's it's all
municipalities and government calling us. I think the budget
cuts has been a huge challenge in terms of the economy and in terms
of the resources of government. If you hear different departments
that you speak to, everybody is talking about austerity measures
that's becoming very, very strong, and you know, they don't have
budgets. You're cutting registered post in hospital, you're cutting
budgets to health facilities, you're cutting budgets to the
police, to the NPA, to the orgs, to the SIU, and every other
department in the country. They have a serious budget crisis.
Right now. They were looking at shutting down embassies all over
the world because of the crisis and the money we've lost, whether
you're stealing or to comrades or to straight capture or just the
economic climate and the Lost loss of investment. So all those
factors combined has made it very critical. So for for people
looking for government. But we look at it another way. Yes,
government should be doing something, but the end of the day,
these honorary civilians, if they take the uniforms off, they're
just very ordinary people, and we can't leave them stranded because
the departments haven't come to aid.
And Dr Suleman also it speaks about the working environment, I
mean safety measures at the military base or military training
center in Kuruman, where this wildfire started and affected
almost 1300
SANDF members. Clearly, there is either lack of early detection or
some form of a response team to ensure that you know their members
are protected.
Well, you know, it's difficult to say fire start very suddenly. So
I'm not sure how the fire started, what the pause was, and how it
happened, but apparently it started on the edge of our mind. I
don't know which mine and you know what the issue was there. And
unfortunately, in the Northern Cape, it's, it's a very poorly
resourced province, and there's two major challenges. One is
there's not enough trained personnel and equipment and
resources. So the fire starts there. You're not going to have
like hundreds of firefighters coming from nearby. The towns are
too scattered. They're too small. It's too rural. There's not enough
staff. The second major unlike what would happen in Joburg or
Durban or Cape Town or some of the bigger cities, the second problem
is, whenever there's a problem in the Northern Cape, you don't get
that too much of support, because companies feel they want to assist
people around the old companies. If they are in the bigger centers,
you would find them more willing to support causes or disasters in
areas where they are based, rather than areas where they are not
based. And we found repeatedly, what crisis in a Northern Cape,
very few corporate companies come to the party. So on the one side,
yes, we have the problem of the fire. And, you know, we, I'm not
sure, so I can't say that the defense forces to blame or not to
blame. I don't know. You know how it started and what is also there.
And secondly, from a state point of view, there's never enough
personnel from a state point of view, and certainly, of course,
the corporates don't come to the eight in a hurry in the northern
gate. And just before we let you go, for those that are in a
position to make a contribution or they want to support your causes,
how do we go about it? I.