SANDF a ‘welfare organisation’: Academics advise on military restructuring

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has lost sight of its core responsibilities, academics told the Joint Standing Committee on Defence on Friday.

Industry specialists briefed the committee to advise on what they felt needed to be done to elevate the force to international respectability.

The shortcomings of the SANDF have been highlighted in the wake of the death of 14 soldiers in clashes with insurgents in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Post-1994 objectives

Two prominent academics blamed the current state of the SANDF on decades of funds spent on the wrong objectives.

Dr Evert Jordaan, a former SANDF officer and deputy director of defence policy formulation at the Defence Secretariat, said this had caused logistics to grind to a halt.  

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Jordaan explained that during South Africa’s administrative transition, the offensive objectives of the past clashed with the new government’s more defensive vision for the future.

He added that after 1994 the government adopted a strategy that did not cause political friction with neighbours, instead looking to build regional relationships.

“As we wanted to become more defensive, we did not invest in or keep capabilities like medium transport which we needed in peacekeeping years later,” Jordaan said.

“So, we closed down capabilities like the Transall C-160 and that came at a huge cost for us later on.”

SANDF training not fit for purpose

South Africa has adopted a peacekeeping role in the DRC, as it has in previous conflicts in southern Africa.

This policy shift involved not prioritising and equipping battalions to fight insurgents, which came with long-term consequences.

“We phased out our doctrine, training, equipment and research and development in that domain because it was politically unfavourable,” Jordaan said.

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Director of the Centre for Military Studies Dr Moses Khanyile explained how funds were being wasted in the Department of Defence (DoD) and SANDF.

He said programmes were launched with funding staggered over multiple years, whereafter a change in priorities left the programmes stalled or cancelled without achieving tangible objectives.

“At a practical level, when you look at management and initiation of projects, there is no optimal use of what we have at our disposal because money is tied up in a project with no prospects of being funded properly,” Khanyile said.

Political will needed

Both Jordaan and Khanyile agreed that the Armaments Corporation of South Africa (Armscor) had a key role to play in future decision making and planning.

To do this, Jordaan asked the committee to summon the political will to give the DoD a mandate to engage with Armscor.

On other future policy objectives, Jordaan urged the SANDF to consider short-term service contracts to deter career appointments, as well as the reduction of personnel, the halting of rank inflation and a general restructuring.

The academics suggested not funding objectives that were developmental in nature or not part of the core business of defence.

“We need a costed defence policy that is based on our available budget and with the support and consultation of the National Treasury,” said Jordaan.

“We also need to build fully trained and equipped units that can deploy in the field tomorrow with everything they have – from every truck and vehicle, every piece of equipment, logistics supplies, first and second line supplies and all third and fourth line logistics in place.”

“If you don’t have that, you don’t have a military – then you sit with a welfare organisation and you cannot achieve the objectives that you set out for your troops to do,” Jordaan said.

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