All Fired Up

BOYS WITH TOYS: Jet aircraft, rockets, tanks, live ammo. What is the military thinking?

As part of Armed Forces Day, which includes parades and exhibitions around South Africa between 16 and 19 February, tanks and other armoured vehicles with weapons systems will churn up the beach at Sunrise.

Jet planes will fly low over the area. Flares will be dropped. Heavy artillery, small calibre weapons and rocket launchers will fire at targets floating offshore. Live shells, bullets and rockets will smash into the sea, killing marine life, traumatising pets, and scaring kids.

We need to tell these $%&*ers to go and play their bang-bang games somewhere else. Not on our beaches. Not in our sea. For surfers and others who love the ocean, these places are sacrosanct: places of peace, not war.

We need to get a petition going. Or, even better, rock up on the night with anything that floats and paddle out. They can't arrest all of us. Well, I suppose they can. But there is safety in numbers. It's the only way to stop them. Anyone with me on this?

You can also send your concerns to the SANDF liaison office listed on this Government press release.

Chief coordinator Lieutenant Colonel Michael Kachelhoffer told John Maythem on Cape Talk that the SANDF had received all the necessary approval from the City of Cape Town council. Listen to the interview hereArmed Forces Day commemorates the sinking of the SS Mendi in the English Channel on February 21, 1917. He said it was good preparation for soldiers and a chance for people to see the defence force's capabilities.

He claimed that SANDF soldiers will not fire ammunition that detonates below the water line or put marine life at risk. He said that it was meant to show people what the SANDF was and how ready they were to defend the country, saying they had gone a long way to try and get all the necessary permissions and the buy-in from the local community.

Armed Forces 2019-Night Shoot @ Muizenberg, Sunrise Beach

Public welcome to attend Rehearsal & Night Shoot Evenings. Warnings: Very loud noise will be heard at the following times and pet owners are requested to take sufficient precautions:

18 & 19 February 2019
18 February- Practice Firing: 15:00 to 16:00:
19 February 19:30 to 21:00: Low-flying aircraft and weapons firing.

#sandf
#sandf_19
#armedforces_19
#nightshoot_19