UNDERSTANDING THE DEFENCE AMENDMENT BILL

Date of Release: 29 June 2010

BYLINE: Professor Sipho Seepe (Strategy Consultant and Special Adviser to the Minister of Defence)
 

An appreciation of the current Defence Amendment Bill would be incomplete without locating it within the constitutional mandate and  developments in the ever-changing defence environment.

The South African Constitution is deliberate and unambiguous with regard to its expectations of the Nationl Defence Force. It purposefully enjoins us to establish a defence force that is “structured and managed as a disciplined military force.” The emphasis on discipline is obvious. Without discipline the Defence Force would be unable to fulfil its primary function of defending and protecting the Republic, its territorial integrity and its people in accordance with the Constitution and the principles of international law regulating the use of force. This translates into defending and protecting our critical interests, supporting our foreign policy by assisting our allies and supporting peace operations on the continent. In addition, the Defence Force helps to beef up the civil power through the support it gives to the police, border protection, disaster or emergency relief.

More often this responsibility involves exposure to enormous personal risks and sacrifices arising from heavy operational commitments. Members of the SANDF are expected to spend large amounts of time away from home on back-to-back deployments. To the extent that they bear the responsibility as the last defence of our democracy, they are our ultimate insurance policy against any threat within and outside the country. For their sake, and ours, we must preserve their calibre and morale.

It does not take much to appreciate that their commitment cannot be reduced to issues of pay. There are other intangibles such as pride in the service of one’s country and “enjoyment of a lifestyle that involves adventurous training and activities [that] make remuneration one of many factors that motivate personnel.”

In her budget vote of 2009, the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Ms Lindiwe Sisulu, sought to underscore this very issue when she said: “I want to assure Defence Force staff that their conditions of service are a concern…We are acutely aware that the state of readiness of the SANDF depends primarily on the morale of our soldiers.”

She went further and said: “We are considering making a request for a separate dispensation for the Department of Defence that would allow us to creatively deal with our own needs and the specificities of our own unique security requirements.” All these commitments, which are the subject of the present bill before parliament, were undertaken to motivate its personnel and encourage recruitment and retention.

The Ministry of Defence and Military Veterans has gone a long way towards establishing a different dispensation. The concept was approved by Cabinet. It also approved the regulatory mechanism to govern and oversee the dispensation. The dispensation allows us to accommodate the unique nature of the Defence Force. It is precisely for this reason that we demand and take extraordinary measures to enforce discipline. Soldiers are not tied to the state by an employment contract but by an oath.

The new dispensation presents a creative space to innovatively respond to the unique challenges of the Defence Force. It has used the space to develop an HIV/Aids policy that uniquely responds to its circumstances. It is a matter of public record that its policy on HIV/Aids is not only precedent setting, but is considered the most progressive in the world.

The present bill, which serves to amend the Defence Act of 2002, is the culmination of a process that started with the Minister’s 2009 budget vote. Three critical concerns are being presented: the first is the establishment of the permanent Service Commission to replace the current Interim South African National Defence Service Commission (INDFSC). Contrary to the misrepresentations, the bill before parliament has been drafted by the INDFSC. Credit (and in some cases criticism) is due to their sterling work.

The second amendment relates to remedying the lacunae in the legislation. The Constitution refers to the President having the responsibility, among others, of appointing the military command. However, no definition is provided in the legislation of what the military is or entails.

The last aspect of the bill deals with the empowering of the Chief of the SANDF to recall members of the Reserve Force. At the moment members of the Reserve Force can only be recalled when the country is at war or during a state of emergency. As a resource, they are underutilized and their combat readiness is severely compromised. The bill aims to remedy this situation inasmuch as it responds positively to their request to be recalled for service when the Chief of the SANDF deems it fit.

Far from wanting to assume dictatorial powers, the Ministry of Defence and Military Veterans is taking all the necessary steps to ensure that it delivers on its mandate of structuring and managing a professional disciplined Defence Force in the service of the country and the nation.