Troops give South Africa a bad name

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is not doing itself, or the country, any good by the behaviour of its troops and officers on secondment to a UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Soldiers and an officer have been implicated in allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse in the city of Beni.

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According to the SANDF, they have recalled the implicated soldiers pending an investigation. However, that’s not what the UN says.

According to Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for secretary-general Antonio Guterres, “the UN has decided to immediately repatriate the nine contingent members and one senior military officer and requested the replacement of two other senior military officers”.

That differing view of the facts is interesting – but what is disturbing is that, according to Dujarric, UN military police officers who went to the premises to assess the situation “were physically assaulted and threatened by the contingent members”, as they moved to detain the South African soldiers.

He went on: “A senior SA military officer reportedly attempted to hinder the investigation and threatened mission personnel, while two other senior SA military officers reportedly failed to properly exercise their responsibilities in the command of their personnel.”

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While sexual liaisons and even abuse are not uncommon in UN missions around the world, this conduct leaves a bad impression of our soldiers – and their command structure – made even worse by the fact that SA proclaims it is against all forms of gender-based violence.

One of the key pillars of an efficient military force is discipline – which must be rigidly enforced.

One military commentator has referred to the lack of “consequence management” in the SANDF.

The military would seem to be like the rest of SA – lawless because they think, or know, they can get away with it.