Is it too late to save the SANDF?

We need SANDF to protect all of us.

Despite the fine-sounding rhetoric from Deputy Defence Minister Bantu Holomisa about pushing to save the SA National Defence Force (SANDF), we can’t help but wonder if defence expert Dr Jakkie Cilliers is not correct when he suggests that it might be too late to save our military.

By too late, he means that so much damage has been done over the past 20 years that the defence force is now a mere shadow of its previous self.

Even allowing for the fact that the country’s soldiers are no longer having to defend apartheid and fight a cold war proxy campaign in Angola, the SANDF as it stands is barely fit for purpose.

Indeed, Cilliers and other experts believe there needs to be frank debate about what we want from our military.

It’s an easy argument to say we believe in peace, not war… especially given our violent past. But any potential enemies – and they might emerge slowly or take us by surprise – have no such emotional reasons for laying down their arms.

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At this juncture in the 21st century, it is probably no longer going to be a nation-state which threatens us – South Africa’s freedom and independence is more likely to be attacked by terrorist or rebels groups from beyond our borders.

If we do not have a defence force that is properly trained and properly equipped, then we could be easy pickings for these groups.

And South Africans could die.

We hope it doesn’t come to that, but our government and our policy makers would be doing a naïve disservice to the country and its citizens if they did not ensure that we have an effective shield in place over us.

The SANDF looks like the poor relation when compared to many of our African neighbours, who realise that defence is an essential part of nationhood.

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