![Sample our Area Studies journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5922/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Area-Studies.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
In June 2015, the South African Parliament passed the long-awaited defence review (DR2015). The aim of the review was to stop the decline of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and to create an economical and sustainable force structure capable of continuing to fulfil its constitutional obligations and to support the country’s foreign policy, primarily in relation to Africa. However, implementation of the DR2015 has turned out to be difficult. The major claim of this article is that the processes of demilitarisation and transition since the end of apartheid, combined with years of underfunding and the lack of a priority given to the SANDF has reduced the latter’s professional military capabilities to such an extent that in the future it will find it difficult to function in the active international role it has played since the end of the 1990s. The reduced role of the SANDF is also an illustration of South Africa in general prioritising domestic developmental and security challenges, as well as its footstep in Africa. The study is based on extensive empirical data collection in South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the form of a string of semi-structured qualitative interviews, primary documentary research and an extensive academic literature review conducted from 2000 to 2017.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. Lamb, Fighting for a Future, 1.
2. DOD, South African Defence Review.
3. For further reading on Operation Boleas, see, for instance, Mandrup, Africa: Salvation or Despair?; de Coning, “Lesotho Intervention”; Malan, “Can They Do That?”
4. Mandela, “Foreword.”
5. Defence Web, “Army Adamant.”
6. DOD, DR2015, Chairperson's Overview.
7. Ibid.
8. For an in-depth study of the state of the SANDF's capabilities and its level of operational readiness, and the transition, see Mandrup, The SANDF; and DOD, South African 2015 Defence Review. See also, Mapisa-Nqakula, Budget Speech 2017.
9. Esterhuyse, “Money Has Little”.
10. DA Defence Speaker S. Shah at the SIGLA seminar September 2016, in Stellenbosch.
11. DOD, Annual Report 2015/16, 10.
12. Mandrup, The SANDF.
13. DOD, South African 2015 Defence Review.
14. DFA, South African White Paper on Peace Missions.
15. DIRCO, White Paper on South African Foreign Policy.
16. The Minister for Police, for instance, requested the SANDF to deploy forces on the Cape Flats in support of the police's efforts to curb violent armed gangs. SAFM Radio, 12 October 2017.
17. Defence Secretary Dr Sam Gulube, Interview on SABC 3 during Army Day, 21 February 2015.
18. Interview with high-level SANDF officer, February 2016.
19. Interview with high-level SANDF officer, 17 August 2015; DOD, Annual Report 2015/16, 8.
20. DOD, Annual Report 2015/16.
21. Williams, “Defence and Development,” 1f.
22. See, for instance, Wilén, Ambrosetti, and Birantamije, “Sending Peacekeepers.”
23. Cf. Williams, “Joining AMISOM,” forthcoming.
24. Like most armed forces in more developed countries.
25. See, for instance, Buur, Jensen, and Stepputat, The Security – Development Nexus.
26. The author is fully aware that states and armed forces are often themselves a source of insecurity.
27. There is a vast academic literature centred around the former military research group that was instrumental in informing the early post-1994 defence policies. Authors including Gavin Cawthra, Laurie Nathan, Rocky Williams and Peter Batchelor dominated the demilitarisation discourse. Other authors, including Mark Malan, Jakkie Cilliers, Theo Neethling and Len Le Roux, tended to call for a stronger focus on defence. More contemporary authors on the role of the SANDF include Abel Esterhuyse, Dean Peter-Baker, Anthoni van Nieuwkerk, Lindy Heinecken, Jolene Pretorius and Evert Jordaan.
28. Interview with Maj. Gen. (Rtd) Len Le Roux, Pretoria, 21 October 2004.
29. DOD, Defence Vote.
30. DOD, Annual Report 2004/05.
31. DOD, South African 2015 Defence Review.
32. Interview with Maj. Gen. (Rtd) Len Le Roux, Pretoria, 21 October 2004. Esterhuyse, “Money Has little.”
33. Interview with Head of the SADC section Horst Bremmer, South African Department of Foreign Affairs, 16 February 2000.
34. ANC Member of Parliament at seminar at Stellenbosch University, September 2016.
35. Heinecken, “Reflexions on Insider-outsider Experiences.”
36. Some sources say 4000–6000.
37. Interview with high-level SANDF officer, February 2016.
38. Presentation by Mr Eeben Barlow, Copenhagen, 2016.
39. Marchal, “Central African Republic.”
40. Interview with senior SANDF officer, February 2016.
41. Ibid.
42. Ibid.
43. For further reading on the transition, see Mandrup, The SANDF.
44. Ibid.
45. Statement by ANC member of Parliament Z.P. Jordan, 10 February 2004.
46. Viljoen's statement during the debate on the South African troop contribution to the DRC, South African Parliament, Cape Town, 10 May 2000.
47. Interview with Col. Verets, MONUSCO, Kinshasa, 30 June 2016.
48. Mandrup and Cold-Ravnkilde, “When Peace-keepers Do Damage.”
49. Interview in MONUC HQ with Lt. Col. Iffland, MA to the Force Commander.
50. In October 2004, the SANDF battalion commander, Col. Greyling, was summoned to Kinshasa by the MONUC force commander, who ordered the South African contingent to introduce strict disciplinary measures. Several cases involving South African soldiers were being processed by the military legal system during the author's visit in October–November 2004.
51. In 2016, the DOD's budget constituted 1% of South Africa's GDP, which is low compared to other SADC countries. Admittedly this debate concerning resources for PSOs is not unique to South Africa.
52. Clark, African Stakes, 169.
53. Foreign Minister Dlamini-Zuma in Parliament during the debate on the State of the Nation Address, South African Parliament, Cape Town, 16 February 2005.
54. Interview with the South African Military Attaché in the DRC, Lt. Col. Jack Khanye, 1 November 2004, at the South African Embassy in Kinshasa.
55. Hon. Shabir Shaik, Democratic Alliance, 14 September 2016.
56. Leon, Tony. Democratic Alliance Leader's statement during the debate in the South African Parliament, Cape Town, 8 February 2000.
57. Interview with the South African Military Attaché in the DRC, Lt. Col. Jack Khanye, 1 November 2004, at the South African Embassy in Kinshasa.
58. Sayedali-Shah, Statement by Democratic Alliance spokesman on defence in the South African Parliament, Cape Town, 8 June 2004.
59. For instance, interviews with Director for DDRRR Peter Swarbrig, 29 October 2004, and Deputy Director Policy Grignon, 2 November 2004, at MONUC HQ in Kinshasa.
60. DFA, South African White Paper on Peace Missions, 30.
61. Parliament, Information Brief to the Joint Standing Committee on Defence: the SANDF's involvement in the ACIRC, 11 March 2016.
62. An area where South Africa is doing well is the percentage of deployed women, which stands at approximately 20% of the combined force.
63. DOD, South African 2015 Defence Review.
64. This was talked about openly in the South African DOD, namely that, apart from the operational usefulness of the Rooivalk for the FIB, the hope was also that this would help market it internationally.