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Defending our defence force

A new military establishment - the Acacia Military Base - that provides accommodation and facilities for special training and for military unit headquarters has replaced the previous depot for military equipment at the same site in the Western Cape.

Bekaert Bastion's 358 single skin high security, high tensile mesh has been used in the construction of a 3,5 km and 2,4 m high fence for the perimeter of the premises. Access to the site is gained via remote control sliding gates that, together with the entire fence grid, are monitored on a mimic panel that is linked to a computer network, which can only be accessed and controlled by specially appointed senior management. The mimic panel is also linked to the maintenance company to enable surveillance every 200 m of the fence grid at all times.

With a contract value of R3,5 million, the Acacia Military Base fence was erected in record time. "We have achieved this in half the time normally allocated for a fencing contract of this size", says Michael Rodenburg, Bekaert Bastion's managing director. "Together with the appointed contractors, Amabamba, we had to work incredibly fast to get the job done in time. You would not necessarily think so but without adequate and effective perimeter security, even our national defence force is vulnerable."

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