President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced the deployment of SANDF personnel to safeguard Eskom power stations at a cost of R146 million. FIle image for illustration: Rajesh JANTILAL/ AFP
In some armies, “rear echelon” support staff – those far away from the front lines and who seldom see combat – are often referred to, in a derogatory way, as “jam stealers” because of their supposed easy access to the comforts fighting soldiers never see.
It was surprising to see, therefore, that the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) legal services division puts many of its lawyers and support staff through combat training and expects them to be able to tough it out with the rest of the troops if they are ever assigned to a war zone.
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Being put through rigorous parachute and other infantry training, the legal eagles are expected to be soldiers first and lawyers second.
Every year, a group of them undergoes an arduous physical and mental test – a hike to the highest point in South Africa, Mafadi in the Drakensberg, in the teeth of winter.
Major-General Eric Mnisi, who is the acting head of the SANDF legal services division, says the process is part of “remilitarising” the legal division, rather than allowing it run “as a private law firm”.
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For taxpayers, it means getting maximum bang for our SANDF buck through having as many “hard” troops as possible.
