The Cultural Gap Between the Military and the Parent Society in South Africa

Abstract

The South African armed forces have undergone profound changes over the past decade in almost every aspect of organisation and structure. With the end of the Cold War and the subsequent demise of Apartheid, the South African armed forces moved away from a defence posture focused on national security, to one focused on regional and non-military threats. In terms of force structure, all-white male conscription was replaced with a volunteer system and for the first time the military became representative of a broader society. However, unlike the previous era, where there was a clearly defined threat, the armed forces were obliged to operate under strict budgetary constraints, in an environment where security became subservient to other more pressing socio-economic priorities. (For a historic overview see Cilliers & Heinecken, 1999.) After the first democratic election in 1994 and the acceptance of the new Constitution and Bill of Rights, everything from the country's foreign, domestic and defence policies were revised. In terms of the tasks of the newly formed South African National Defence Force (SANDF), the final Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Article 200 (2), described these as “to defend and protect the Republic, its territorial integrity and its people in accordance with the Constitution and the principles of international law regulating the use of force”. The first and primary role of the SANDF is “defence against external aggression”, but it was for its secondary function, “to defend and protect its people in accordance with the Constitution and principles of international law”, that the SANDF has been most operational, both internally in law and order functions, and more recently, in peace support operations in the region.

Citation

Heinecken, L. and Gueli, R. (2005), "The Cultural Gap Between the Military and the Parent Society in South Africa", Caforio, G. and Kümmel, G. (Ed.) Military Missions and their Implications Reconsidered: The Aftermath of September 11th (Contributions to Conflict Management, Peace Economics and Development, Vol. 2), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 193-211. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1572-8323(05)02012-6