Waterkloof base's condition shocks MPs
Date: 20 December 2011
The following is a rough translation of an airticle that appeared in the Afrikaans Die Burger newspaper:
Facilities at 1 Military Hospital and the Waterkloof Air Force Base is in a shocking condition, said MPs.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence visit to a Military Hospital and the Waterkloof air force base in Pretoria in August found the facilities there is in a "shocking state".
Committee members said in a report written after the visit: "Sinkholes at the Waterkloof Air Force Base is a great source of worry and fatal for members of the Air Force."
According to the report of the committee, the aircraft hangers, single quarters and kitchens all in a terrible state.
The Air Force did not have enough money to meet all the maintenance work to come.
Money is also urgently needed for the accommodation of firefighters on the basis of modernizing as well as the construction of a new air traffic control tower.
A money shortage also means that maintenance plans and set targets for conservation work is often not being met.
The committee take the blame for the lack of funds on an ineffective relationship with the Department of Public Works.
The department is actually responsible for the repair and maintenance of state buildings, including the military.
About 1 Military Hospital, the committee said while conservation work on some wards, including emergency and intensive care units is done, there is no money for equipment that is urgently required.
