The new South African defence force Quo Vadis?

[sabadgeman]

SADF vs SANDF - which way to go?

Max du Preez

February 14 2008 at 10:48AM

I have for a very long time had the impression that our National Defence Force
is in deep trouble. After last week I'm sure of it.

My morning paper last Friday carried a picture of a soldier with a Jacob Zuma
T-shirt on the front page. He was the spokesperson of the soldiers' trade union
and he was threatening to disrupt the opening ceremony at parliament.

The soldiers' protest action was in support of a demand for better salaries and
the SANDF's promotions policies.

But the police had refused the soldiers permission to march in Cape Town on the
day of the opening of parliament.

The union leader then threatened revolt - that they would invade Cape Town in
their thousands and take on the police.

"The Eskom crisis will look like a circus when we rise up," he was reported to
have said.

Soldiers threatening to make a major city ungovernable, threatening violent
clashes with the police? It's very clear and simple: it is sedition.

In any other democracy this soldier would have been in detention barracks by the
time the newspaper hit the streets and would be facing a court martial by now.
Nothing happened to him.

Armies aren't democratic institutions. A commander's orders aren't meant to be
debated. By its very nature an army can only be successful if it is highly
disciplined. It is, after all, a unit of men and women trained to kill and
armed to the teeth to do it. It is the primary guardian of the state and of
stability.

A lot can be said of the apartheid era defence force and the way they
destabilised the neighbouring states. But they were a prime example of a highly
disciplined force where party politics were banned; they were loyal to the
government of the day.

This culture of discipline and of being above party politics saved our
transition to democracy from derailing.

In 1993 and early 1994 a former SADF chief, General Constand Viljoen, mobilised
thousands of white men under arms to threaten the negotiating politicians with
a coup.

In March 1994 his force was poised to take the former Bantustan of
Bophuthatswana to defend its "independence".

The then chief of the SADF, General George Meiring, quickly mobilised a force
and for a while they (made up of mostly white Afrikaners) squared up the
Viljoen force (made up of mostly white Afrikaners). Viljoen backed down.

A month or so later, Meiring stood next to Nelson Mandela on the podium as he
was sworn in as South Africa's new president.

Helicopters that were used a year earlier to attack the ANC and others opposing
apartheid, flew overhead with the new flag attached.

From statements made after his retirement, we know Meiring didn't like the deal
made between the National Party and the ANC.

But when he was head of the SADF, he followed the principle of staying loyal to
the government of the day. He went on to assist with the integration of several
forces into the new SANDF.

The problem is that two of the main components of the new SANDF, the ANC's
Umkhonto we Sizwe and the PAC's Apla, were highly ideologised armies with low
levels of training and very weak discipline.

MK itself experienced several mutinies during its time. Apla was a virtual
non-entity until after the all-party negotiations started, when it launched
bloody and cowardly attacks against white civilians.

Apla was at its most active ever in 1993 and 1994. (The Apla commander at the
time, Letlapa Mphahlele, is about to be prosecuted for those crimes.)

Unfortunately the leadership in the SANDF wasn't strong enough to turn it into a
professional force after 1994. Too many soldiers behave as if they belong to
some African warlord's private army.

The force was quickly purged of some of the most experienced soldiers of the old
SADF and promotions to the highest ranks sometimes appear to come out of a lucky
packet.

Today, I'm told, less than half the personnel in the SANDF are battle ready the
rest are apparently sick or live with HIV/Aids.

The SANDF is so weak now that it can't even protect the border with Lesotho.
Farmers along the border have been terrorised for years and Free State
Agriculture is about to launch a serious Constitutional Court action against
government because they claim their constitutional rights have been violated by
the state's inaction.

It would have been acceptable if our defence force had merely become a place
where pre-1994 soldiers could find employment and medical care, because we
don't really need a strong army. But having spent R50 billion on sophisticated
arms and weaponry, we expect a lot more.

Instead of saddling our young children with an oath forever reminding them that
the little white ones among them are evil seed, perhaps we should get all our
soldiers in shape to stand on the parade ground early every morning promising
to serve the Constitution only.

This article was originally published on page 20 of Daily News on February 14,
2008


IOL: SADF vs SANDF - which way to go?

[Woodmonkey]

Instead of saddling our young children with an oath forever reminding them that
the little white ones among them are evil seed, perhaps we should get all our
soldiers in shape to stand on the parade ground early every morning promising
to serve the Constitution only.

What oath is this?

[sabadgeman]

Not quite sure but will find out