By Tula Dlamini
For Dr. Lindiwe Sisulu, South Africa’s current Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, the centrality of national security is not a contested proposition. Rather, what is contested is the notion that national security can be achieved solely by achieving a strong military. Consistent with her thinking, which in part, is shared among economic and military scholars, territorial security that is performed by the military is no more important than other social challenges such as poverty and inequality.
Geoff Harris (2002), Professor of Economics in the School of Economics and Management at the University of Natal, Durban, is an exponent of a demilitarised society. First, he acknowledges the changed global military landscape, noting that almost all armed conflicts now occur within countries rather than between them, typically between government forces and groups wishing to secede or take over government. Second, he observes that; worldwide, invasions of one country by another are very rare events. None of the remaining war-torn countries have borders with South Africa”, Prof. Harris adds that more people die each year of AIDS-related illness in South Africa and a further 60,000 from road accidents and interpersonal violence, than in all wars in Africa put together. Moreover, contends Prof. Harris, ‘there is sufficient evidence indicating how excessive military expenditure hinders economic growth and thereby development. Further evidence has also shown that one out of every poor person in a developing country is 33 times more likely to die as a result of ‘social neglect’(preventable disease and malnutrition) than as a result of an inter-country war’.
Need for a 'smart military paradigm'
The challenge raised by Harris, however, could be reframed. Does South Africa require a demilitarized army or a 'smarter and leaner army that is able to respond to security threats efficiently and yet remain responsive to social challenges? Arguably, there exists a number of alternative ways of achieving security; ways that are less costly and more effective than a conventional military whose operations are limited to military engagement only.
If current developments within the South African Defense Force are anything to go by, Dr. Sisulu appears up her alley. Within a year of her assuming leadership of the defense department, Sisulu has made visible interventions with respect to budget expenditures; including social interventions when it has been deemed material for army personnel to get involved. For instance, at the height of a nationwide strike by more than one million public workers in August 2010, the defense ministry promptly deployed soldiers to 37 hospitals to help keep basic health services running. Later, the ministry said military teams were called in to aid doctors and replace striking support staff in cleaning bed linen and providing meals.
Add to existing army operations which include cross-border security, peacekeeping initiatives in the continent and more, Sisulu appears fully aware of the cost implications. Her attention to military expenditure and due diligence is in no doubt, clearly signified by her department's placing on review several contracts for military hardware and canceling others outright.
There is no doubt that a strong military builds national pride, creates jobs, etc. The same could be said in leiu of South Africa's infamous “arms deal” in which over R50 billion was spent. Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies told parliament in September 2010 that the Strategic Defense Package, has created 73 000 jobs and has exceeded government’s expectations. Davies told the National Assembly the latest assessment, undertaken last year, of the creation of jobs by national industrial participation offsets showed they had created 85 000 direct and indirect jobs, with 73 000 from the arms deal.
However, perhaps not to be ignored is the question asked by Prof. Harris earlier;‘fine, but at what cost?’ Harris calculated that from a job creation perspective, 'the spending of R52.7 billion to create 65,000 jobs (originally projected figures) means that each job costs more than R800,000, which could employ a dozen teachers or nurses'. According to the learned Prof. Harris, 'this picture highlights the fact that military expenditure is invariably an extremely expensive way of creating jobs'.
What Prof. Harris does not allude to in his argument is that because South Africa is not at war; that fact alone, does not mean military preperedness must be treated as a secondary function of government. The opposite is true, ie. to the extent that the fiscus can handle, the South African military should seek to transform itself into a 'smarter', 'leaner' and 'more efficient' force; while, as Sisulu has repeatedly noted, 'responsive to societal goals and indeed the professional needs of every individual soldier'.
Ordinarily; evolving a 'smart' military must be accompanied, among other interventions, by a corresponding human development training programme. Signs of progress in that regard are visible. Case in point is the recent successful completion by Captain Catherine Labuschagne as one of four South African Air Force (SAAF) who took part in the first Operational Conversion Course (OCC) instructed by local SAAF pilots.
Captain Labuschagne made her solo Gripen flight at the South African airbase Makhado in the Limpopo province of South Africa. This will give her a place in the record books as the first female Gripen pilot.
The four newly qualified Gripen fighter pilots will strengthen SAAF and the 2 squadron which it is hoped will reach operational status sometime in 2011.
Recently the SAAF Gripen force, although still in a project phase and not formally an operational system, conducted a large part of the air policing during the FIFA World Cup.
The South African government ordered 26 Gripen C/D fighter aircraft in 1999 as part of a “strategic defense package” that acknowledges that future defense capabilities will increasingly rely in what is now commonly called network-centric operations. This is a new military doctrine or theory of war that prioritizes information advantage, enabled in part by information technology, into a competitive advantage through the robust networking of well informed geographically dispersed forces.
This technology does not come cheap but here it should be noted South Africa has consistently witnessed sharp declines with respect to military expenditure since 1994, this in spite of the media hoo haa.
Here is a simple graph showing the state of militarisation in South Africa. It shows military spending as a percentage of GDP (from the World Bank – just Google military GDP South Africa and you will get the data). The post-1994 decline is striking. The World Bank figures only go up to 2008. (Click on the graph for a larger image.)
Here is another graph that puts South Africa in some regional perspective. Recent increases have put South Africa well ahead of Malawi, Mozambique and Mauritius but well below the rest of the countries within the Southern Development Community (SADC).
The above scenario shows a low military expenditure versus GDP by comparison to other countries within the SADC region. In fact, it highlights a concerted effort by the post apartheid government in South Africa, to structure defense spending in manner that does not "bankrupt the state coffers" by exceeding the government's capacity to attend to other social concerns. The approach, which in South Africa has included 'strategic high-end defense purchaces', recognizes several variables, including the nature of armed conflict and the changed meaning of security in the past three decades.
Sisulu admits there are challenges,including among others, military spending oversight; hence her department has instituted several options to compliment existing measures aimed at ensuring that the final overall national budget is a monetary expression of the priorities of the nation, its choice between "weapons of war and the broader socio-economic goals”.
As 2010 came to a close, cabinet had approved two new but long-anticipated defence-related Bills for introduction to Parliament. They are the Military Veterans Bill and the South African Military Ombudsman Bill. The Defense Ministry said in a statement that the Military Veterans Bill will seek to establish, develop, promote and implement national policy and standards regarding military veterans and their dependants “to enhance the well-being and quality of life through progressive realisation of their socio-economic rights.”
A further amendment to the Defence Act is also on the cards, a separate statement from the Ministry of Defence and Military Veterans said. “In the next financial year [starting 01 April 2011] our priority would be to finalise the legislative process to remove unions in the SANDF,”
Following a rebellion by the South African armed forces, which happened on 15 August 2009, police responded with rubber bullets and teargas to disperse the protest described by the defense minister as a threat to national security. Four soldiers were taken to hospital and 18 were injured during the mutinous unrest which took place at the government Union Buildings in Pretoria. It can be argued this was the primary reason that led to a re-think on whether unions should be tolerated in the army.
“We are more than convinced that all the unions in the SANDF have no respect for national security their interest is collecting monthly affiliation funds from the poor soldiers” the ministry said.
The Military Ombudsman will be expected to attend to complaints arising from members of the Defence Force as well as members of the public “and to ensure speedy resolution of complaints within and against the Defence Force,” the statement added.
Currently complaints arising from the Defence Force are dealt with in terms of the Individual Grievance Regulation and by a military investigator embedded in the office of the Public Protector and through the army unions.
In response to this short-come, Sisulu appointed an interim defense commission on 9 September 2009, to advise on establishing a permanent National Defense Force Service Commission and a special dispensation for the conditions of service of members of the South African National Defense Force (SANDF), in matters both in the short-term and the long-term.
The commission's final report was submitted to the minister in November 2010 and is expected to undergo all the necessary deliberation and ratification processes.
The interim commission is chaired by Supreme Court of Appeal Judge Lebotsang Ronnie Bosielo and includes United Democratic Movement leader and retired general Bantu Holomisa, and Pieter Groenewald of the Freedom Front Plus, a veteran member of the Assembly's defence committee.
“By appointing members from such diverse backgrounds, some from outside the orbit of the military,allowed us for the first time, in this dispensation to have a bird's eye view of the SANDF since 1994,” Sisulu explains. It is initiatives such as alluded to above that speak to the inclusive, broad character and content of South Africa's first female Defense Minister Dr. Lindiwe Sisulu.
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