Editor Column

It’s an open secret neither the Defence Ministry nor the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is in favour of trade unions in the military.

What also cannot be denied is that the existence of military trade unions is in line with the South African Constitution.

This stand-off has seen any number of verbal exchanges and lawsuits between the military trade unions and the upper echelons of the SANDF as well as immediate past Defence and Military Veterans Minister Lindiwe Sisulu.

The past few weeks has again seen an escalation of tension with an element of mudslinging added. SA National Defence Union (Sandu) national secretary Pikkie Greeff is again consulting lawyers, this time with a view to charges of libel.

“Again” because the union has had to resort to the courts on many occasions in its disputes with the Defence Ministry and the SANDF. It has successfully taken the national military machine through the legal system and come out as the victor on any number of occasions.

While the approach of the SANDF is best typified by current SANDF Chief General Solly Shoke who, when he was in charge of the SA Army, said people who wanted jobs shouldn’t look to the defence force. He called service in the SANDF “a calling”.

While there are many in uniform who fully accept death is part of the deal when signing up, there are also others who denigrate the effort and patriotism shown by the majority.

The most recent example of commitment to the uniform and the discipline that goes with it are the actions of those soldiers involved in the abortive Battle for Bangui. They are Shoke’s type of people.

Two examples of the bad are the pilot who ‘borrowed’ an SA Air Force aircraft to visit friends in Botswana and the by-now infamous colonel from the same arm of service who was photographed, in uniform, wearing pink slippers while on a shopping outing. These are people who either don’t want to understand the discipline that goes with the uniform or simply couldn’t care less. In other words the ones Shoke identified as joining up for jobs.

Essentially it comes down to the military trade unions wanting the best for those who pay their union dues, be they combatants, cooks or clerks, while the SANDF wants professionalism and dedication from all musterings.

Where it will end is anybody’s guess. As matters stand there is going to be more tension and more court cases with the only winner being the one who gets the nod from the judge or magistrate.

Surely, this is not the way to build a defence force South Africa can be proud of?

Some years ago the SANDF touted itself as “Defence in a Democracy”.

This has been superseded by “The Pride of the Nation”. That slogan was proudly carried by the SAAF at the time of the country’s democratisation and was fitting tribute to the helicopters and Cheetah jets that brought pride to the nation in its infancy. People cheered wildly when helicopters carrying the national and military flags flew low over the Union Buildings and even more enthusiastically when a flight of Cheetahs thrilled them with a low and thundering flypast.

Sadly events in the Central African Republic (CAR) have again thrust the SANDF into the national spotlight and even more sadly, there are far more questions than answers.

It’s all well and good for SANDF Chief General Solly Shoke to say he is only a soldier following orders and not a politician but the return to South Africa of 13 elite members of 1 Parachute Battalion in body bags demands more and better.

It appears the “defence in a democracy” concept has gone out of the window to be replaced by statements couched in officialese and jargon. Some long-time military observers are even likening the current drips of information coming out of SANDF headquarters to that disseminated by the former SA National Defence Force at the height of the Border War and what PW Botha and his cohorts called the “Rooi Gevaar”.

It is both sad and sorry this perception is taking hold in the public debate and dialogue about the CAR deployment.

What the SANDF needs is support from all South Africans to truly make it the pride of the nation. It is not doing itself any favours with the current spin being put on the CAR issue.

Whether Shoke and his senior command cadre are being reined in by the politicians in dealing with the media will, in all probability, never become clear but that South Africans want answers is clear.

Surely, now is the right time for the defence in a democracy slogan to be uppermost or is it, as one regular defenceWeb reader puts it, “a case of putting the CARt ahead of the SANDF”?

People serving in the media relations and communications sections of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) would do well to take heed of SA Navy Chief Vice Admiral Johannes Mudimu’s opinion on the military/media interface.

“The media can be an effective force multiplier and we should see and use it as such,” he said at the launch of IONSphere, a naval journal with its roots in the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS).

This writer can only offer a big Bravo Zulu and hope the admiral’s exhortations to “give the media the information they ask for” becomes embedded in standard operating procedure across all four arms of service.

Having dealings with military media liaison officers over a more than 15-year period, it is obvious, with some notable exceptions, that the SANDF sees the media more as an enemy, at best a nuisance, than an ally. Requests for information and answers to questions regarding a variety of defence and military matters routinely have to be chased up, sometimes up to four or five times, before some sort of response is forthcoming.

When following up one is told “we are awaiting a final sign-off”, “it’s in process” or even “the person who has to deal with that is out of office/on leave/off sick” among other ruses.

Responses, again with exceptions, tend to be more in the politico-speak format than direct answers.

This is not a satisfactory state of affairs given the SANDF wants to be seen as “The Pride of the Nation”.

The Navy boss’s words should be taken alongside that of former SA Air Force Chief, Lieutenant General Carlo Gagiano. Soon after taking over command in 2005 he issued an instruction to his media liaison team that all media enquiries should be answered within 24 hours of receipt.

That, coupled with Mudimu’s “force multiplier” statement, should be more than enough motivation for those serving as media liaison officers to stand up and serve - properly.

It will certainly give forward impetus to “The Pride of the Nation” concept SANDF Chief General Solly Shoke is aiming for.

The reference, almost in passing, to the work the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) is doing in Africa as an instrument of government’s foreign policy by President Zuma during his State of the Nation Address does not inspire confidence in the all-important area of budget allocations.

The Chiefs of the Air Force and Army have both made public mention of the constant battle to balance tasks with resources - financial, human and equipment. That these arms of service have succeeded in successfully undertaking and completing all tasks assigned to them is a tribute to the professionalism and “make it work” attitude of Senior Command Cadres working in conjunction with Lieutenant General Derrick Mgwebi’s Joint Operations Division.

But this situation should not be allowed to continue. Military analysts expect more calls to be made on the services of the country’s uniformed civil servants in the immediate future. This was reinforced by SA Army Chief Lieutenant General Vusi Masondo. Late last year said he was “fully expecting” elements of the landward force to be deployed to Mali. That this is not going to happen according to Defence and Military Veterans Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula does not detract one iota from the SANDF’s need for more funding.

Given that at least another two companies are earmarked for border protection deployment in the coming financial year, and the Mozambique Channel anti-piracy tasking Operation Copper is ongoing, there is certainly a need for more funding to flow the way of the South African military.

As with defence forces across the world, training is absolutely essential if tasks are to be properly executed and it deserves a better funding allocation.

Then there is the thorny question of equipment. The Army desperately needs new vehicles, both for combat and logistics. As the major component of deployments continentally and in country surely it is time to make money available for the long-suffering backbone of the SANDF.

Finance Minister Pravin Gordham would be doing right by the SANDF if he increases its allocation of the national budget when he informs the nation how and where its taxes will be spent on Wednesday.

He would do well to take heed of SANDF Chief General Solly Shoke’s words at a Cape Town medal parade.

“The Department of Defence is one of South Africa’s foreign policy pillars. It is used to operationalise South Africa’s international obligation and memoranda of understanding with other countries in pursuit of the African Agenda.”