Excess, obsolete and redundant equipment across the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) is either disposed of by way of auction or tender.
Equipment not required any longer for reasons ranging from broken to unserviceable or surplus to requirements is much the same as would be found in private sector companies. This saw bidders at the SA Army Support Base (ASB) in Kimberley earlier this month in expectation of bargains among 322 lots deemed no longer needed by the Department of Defence (DoD) Logistic Support Formation.
On offer were commercial vehicles in the sedan, “bakkie” and bus classes as well as construction, garden maintenance and office equipment including furniture. Romeo Jacobs from SA Army Corporate Communication reports the vehicles on offer included decommissioned jeeps to “more modern military trucks” suitable for re-enactment displays or restoration projects.
Kazi Nabe, Riley Auctions Africa Senior Auction Administrator, said 314 of the 322 lots offered were knocked down to buyers, with the highest bid of the day R138 000 for a 60-seater Mercedes-Benz bus. At the other end of the scale a pair of wooden crutches went for R50.
The Kimberley ASB auction was the fourth the Gresswold, Johannesburg, company handled for the DoD/SANDF.
Last month, CAHI Auctioneers auctioned off old SANDF equipment at Air Force Base Langebaanweb, Army Support Base Youngsfield in Wynberg, Air Force Base Ysterplaat, 9 South African Infantry Battalion, and Naval Base Simons Town. The majority of equipment comprised old and scrap vehicles, including buses, trucks, Land Rovers, Hi-Aces, sedans, forklifts, tractors, motorcycles, and bakkies, as well as tyres, furniture, and cabinets.
Also part of assisting the SANDF to rid itself of equipment either no longer needed or beyond economic repair (BER) is Defence Disposal Services (DDS), part of Armscor. All its work is executed in accordance with DoD requirements and regulatory requirements set by, among others, the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) and the SA Non-Proliferation Council (NPC), a Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) entity.
To date this year, DDS issued tenders for the sale and destruction of empty brass ammunition cartridges, Class A medical equipment, medical radiology equipment, a mammography unit, BER B Class vehicles, unserviceable telecommunications equipment, unserviceable IT (information technology equipment) as well as empty ammunition containers.
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