2004 Volume 3

DISMANTLING THE COMMANDOS

For decades, South Africa's farming community has been protected by the Commando System: deriving its name from the old Boer Military formation. The Commandos traditionally consisted of civilians with military training being called up for service if and when necessary.

But now South Africa's efficient Commandos are to go. According to Safety and Security Minister, Charles Nqakula, the part-time component of the military will be phased out “because of the role it played in the Apartheid era.”

This announcement has been greeted with consternation by South Africa's organised agriculture and opposition political parties. There are an estimated 50 000 to 70 000 part-time soldiers belonging to more than 180 Commando units. These units carry out thousands of operations each year, many in support of border control. The Commando system goes back to 1715 when part-time Commando volunteers were established to safeguard the community in the Cape.

With the South African countryside “chillingly violent”, and the policing on the ground “often incompetent and always woefully thin”, who is to protect the settlements of the hinterland? The Institute for Security Studies observes that phasing out the Commandos “will mean that the country will lose all rear area defence capability.” One Member of Parliament observed that with the South African countryside being “the most dangerous in the world” this decision would leave many millions of rural dwellers totally unprotected from the thousands of heavily armed gangs which terrorise them.

So the question is: with what does the government plan to replace the Commandos? The government is promising that the South African Police Service will do the job. But, from all reports, the SAPS is badly run, under-staffed and poorly capacitated. Studies undertaken show that the Police Force is 25% under-staffed. At station level 60% of personnel do not have driver's licences. The European Union has donated R17 million to a police driver programme to teach 6 000 police officers how to drive. There are 38 000 illiterate and semi-literate police officers in the SAPS. 25% of the police in Mpumalanga are illiterate. There are an average of 2,5 million recorded crimes in South Africa each year. This translates into 115 crimes for each detective to investigate every year.

The Institute for Security Studies has reported that there are 5½ times more inspectors than constables in the SAPS. Australia, Britain, and the USA have 1 sergeant for between 4 and 6 constables, but in South Africa there are 5½ times more inspectors than constables! Newspaper headlines such as “Child Raped While in Police Care”; and reports of police robbing a cellphone shop in Hillbrow, police held on bribery charges, assaulting a journalist at Gugulethu Police Station, nearly a thousand service weapons lost a year by the police, 366 people dying in police custody in 2002, and so many other incidents, make it hard to believe that the SAPS in its present form will be able to effectively replace the efficient Commando system. Especially as the South African National Defence Force has withdrawn from border defence posts, declaring that border protection is now the duty of the South African Police Service. The ability to curb trans-national crime such as stock theft and car theft syndicates, plus the flow of illegal immigrants and illegal weapons across South Africa's borders has been severely undermined. The SANDF, according to figures presented before Parliament, has 206 generals in the army with 60 000 ordinary members, a ratio of 1 to 291. By contrast, the USA ratio is 1 to 2428. The SANDF is one of the world's most top heavy armies, giving the impression that military positions are primarily a salary cash cow to be milked.

In the light of all this undermining of the defensive capabilities of the country, the Firearms Control Act with its undermining of the self-defence capabilities of ordinary citizens is even more disturbing.

From The Great South African Land Scandal, by Dr Phillip du Toit.