Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Thandi Modise has urged women in the SANDF and the defence industry to take their rightful place in the different arms of service and companies where they serve.
Addressing women officers, managers and diplomats at the Women in Defence Seminar on Friday 23 September as part of the Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) 2022 exhibition, Modise said women had always been involved in fighting for change in the continent, but had had their efforts airbrushed from the history books and discriminated against afterwards.
She said she had found when she was involved in post-conflict resolution in Africa, women were treated differently and when the wars ended, “men would get land and money, women would get sewing machines,” she said.
Women had always carried a bigger burden; serving in the frontline and having to raise families, but were always treated differently; from Krotoa, who translated for Jan van Riebeeck, to Shaka’s sister Princess Mkabayi kaJama, to Eve in the bible and even the Voortrekker women who helped load their men’s guns in the laagers, because history was written by the victors; by men, colonialists.
The same had happened to accounts of women in the armed struggle: freedom fighters, political prisoners and activists had all been written out. It was important, she said, to rectify this when women raised their daughters, recalling her own early days as a member of the ANC’s armed wing; uMkhonto we Sizwe.
“We started interfering in the policies of MK way back in 1976. The first was the rejection of being called ‘she-comrades’ and then “female comrades. I spent the whole week referring to the camp commander as a male commander until he demanded I explain why.
“We insisted on not being given light duties (as women), we challenged the men in MK at every step on the obstacle course, in class, because when you are challenging the odds you don’t take out the begging bowl.”
One of the country’s key problems that it faced today was the failure of South Africans to fight for their rights, she said, exacerbated by a sense of entitlement by those born after 1994. It was incumbent upon the current generation of leaders to stop this by opening up space for debate, mentoring the youth and honouring those who had gone before to win them the rights they now enjoyed, the Minister said.
Modise reminded the guests of the battles she and her comrades had fought for women to be allowed into all areas of the brand new South African National Defence Force, which had previously been reserved for males, getting the specifications of equipment, accommodation facilities and even vehicles changed to accommodate women’s needs.
Other battles that had been successfully waged, she said, included getting the UN to increase the quota for women representativity in peacekeeping missions. It wasn’t a request based on goodwill, but the practical experience of seeing how women police officers had helped de-escalate black-on-black violence in South Africa’s strife torn townships in the run up to the 1994 elections.
“Our experience was that women police officers seemed to be able to get closer to communities and to reconcile communities quicker,” she said.
Modise and her parliamentary colleagues stepped into the breech again when they realised the UN contingents to Burundi and Rwanda were going to be predominantly male, getting then president Nelson Mandela to personally intercede with the UN.
“We told them ‘there is no shortage of women who have carried arms in Africa’.”
The onus is on the current generation of female officers in the SANDF and managers within the defence industry to pay it forward for the generations that would follow, and policies would mean nothing if there were not people fighting for them to be implemented to bring about change, Modise said.
“We must not forget that for peace to endure, those who have found peace must not go to sleep. You don’t clean the spade and put it away. Now and again you take it out and you clear the path so that the path continually remains smooth.”
The next frontier, she told the audience, was for the South African National Defence Force to get its first ever female chief.
“The pressure is on you, to prove that you have it in you. Support one another, create room for everyone, including those with disabilities, to excel,” she said.
