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40(Continued from page 39)duties, more than they were consciousand preoccupied with theirrights. They understood and werecommitted to the fact that althoughthey were fighting for democracy toprevail in their society, there couldnever be democracy in the military assuch. They were committed to thefact that the military was and mustalways be autocratic in nature if itis to survive as a credible anddisciplined force to fight warsfor the country.They were conscious of the factthat theirs was a business involvingthe possible supreme sacrifice of theirmost treasured possession, which waslife. They were also conscious of theadverse consequences of a lack ofdiscipline, as that could involve littlemetal balls meant to break humanbones and terminate treasured humanlife. They were also very aware thatdiscipline in the military was shapedand nurtured on the parade groundthrough pride in drilling.True factsIt is also true that the SANDF isfacing the real effects of elements ofthe Non-statutory Forces that do nottruly originate from the "ParadeGround", in the true sense of theword. (Refer to SA SOLDIER, Vol 10No 9, Part II, par 3, p 34, Attention allWarrant Officers of the Army byMaj Gen J. Jooste for a definition of aparade ground.) These membershave, however, never been regardedas second-class soldiers by theirrespective Non-statutory Forces. Thetruth is that they were trained eitheras individuals or small groups in andout of the country for differentmissions, such as the following:intelligence collection, sabotage,mass mobilisation, couriers andsmall groups of strike units.These elements were trainedeither in safe houses or in militarybases in the bush, but isolated fromthe rest of the Full-time soldiers. Thiswas for security reasons as they wereto operate behind enemy lines andthen return to their normal civilianenvironment in a short space of time,without raising any suspicions.It is true that when the memberswere integrated into a Full-timeRegular Force, this aspect became animmense challenge. These wereindeed genuine combatants who hadnever gone through the intense,rigorous and difficult part of beingtrained as an obedient soldier, withthe element of selfish consciousnesseradicated from the mind.I personally equate this with thetype of what I regard as would-behalf-baked soldiers through the wellintended outcome based curricula weintend to introduce to the SANDFtraining institutions today. These tome sound dynamic and cost-effectiveas they are presented with very obviousgood intentions by the authors,but it seems as if we negate one mostcrucial fact, namely that we have toshape a soldier who is psychologicallyfit for tough and deadly combat.We even negate the fact that some ofthe recipients of these courses are justraw civilians recruited as professionalsfrom the civilian ranks to joinmilitary officer ranks and are thusrequired to be involved laterin operations.The only difference between thetwo is that the initial group wouldgenerally be more disciplined andcommitted, as it is a direct product ofunderground structures trained duringwar. This is also meant to send acaution to the SANDF authorities atall levels, that in correcting whateverwrongs get done in the process ofwork, including possible abuses ofpower, not to lose sight of the mainreason for our existence as a militaryforce. This also goes to the lawmakers,including legislators of this country,to be sober and mindful of theirintentions to retain and sustain theirmilitary force. This has to be pursuedeven if it means minor amendmentsto the country's constitution that maybe used to undermine the achievementof the aim for the existence ofthe country's ultimate insurance,the SANDF.Not taking the soldier through theelements of the parade ground onlyproduces civilians who wear militaryuniforms and have military rank byvirtue of their intellect and association.It means wasting resources andwasted effort to train professionalgunslingers with no pride and respectfor the military profession. There maybe many exceptions to this, but ingeneral the gap will always show. Mycompany commander, Nome' deguarra, "Moscow", a seasoned battletested soldier from the battles ofZimbabwe at the time, once warnedus that one of the platoon 4 soldierswould easily be captured in battlebecause of his civilian ways ofbehaving. In fact this happened nearCacuso in Angola, on the EasternFront in 1983.This is a bitter pill to swallow andremedial action strategies by allcommanders with deep involvementof the non-commissioned officers areurgent and essential. This will savethe SANDF from adding to the numbersof what one would affectionatelybe referred to as "Sis', "S Sgt", "Boet","Capt, "Bro Major", "Mam'u-SgtMajor" and so on. It is amusing forme to remember that, when one wasin the camps in Angola, those whomwe regarded as behaving unsoldierlyused to be called "ama-PARTISAN",actually translated from Russianmeaning "militia". They were alsocalled "POVO", from Portuguesemeaning "just a citizen within themasses", or "ISAKHAMUZI, INTOENGENAMUMO", meaning rawdisoriented civilian/citizen tryingto play a soldier's role. In the BarneyMolokoane Main Training Centre inCaculama, 15 km from Malange, weused to pride ourselves on the factthat we enforced discipline to such anextent that we even made the treesfall in a straight line. Indeed webelieved and were committed to this.The dedication of the young officerseven earned them the title: "THECOMSOMOL", by their colleaguesfrom other camps who reallyappreciated the commitment andsoldierly environment.This one hopes will help providesome insight into what is probablyregarded as missing in respect ofstandards of professionalism withinthe Non-statutory Forces. I therefoream of the opinion that any commanderor authority who justifies one'sfailures to maintain and raise standardsbecause of the so-called informalways of the ex non-statutoryS A S O L D I E R • J U N E 2 0 0 4
informal ways is a "liar". The samegoes for any member of saidbackground who justifies his ownlaziness, non-performance andflabby soldiering.It must be seen as a red light if wecontinue to behave with what Iregard as "leaders busy withdrawingfrom leading" by continuing to producesoldiers who have no pride inthemselves as soldiers, irrespective ofdifficult challenges they may be facing.History may not be kind to us ifwe continue down this path. This situationwill go on as long as we continueto have flimsy excuses when itcomes to the commitment to professionalismand military discipline inrunning our military organisation.We see them every day looking flabbyin uniform and do nothing aboutit, while there are clear regulationsintended to address this.They are at bottle stores wearinguniforms, and it is becoming normal.They are sometimes not sure whetherMeeting on cultural groundsBy Capt Corné Gründlingh,ASB Durbanto salute or not and when some do, itis as if they are pulling clothes fromthe washing line and we blame it ontheir perceived previous force culture.Their uniforms are not up to standardand we blame it on the top hierarchyand the new system of GSBs and inthis way we do not act and mostprobably do not even care. We alsosee commanders failing to respond tothe statements or requests of theirsubordinates for months on end, onlyto respond within hours when thequery comes from the union and wepostpone action again and again.We even fail to treat the matter aspure subversion, which is exactlywhat it is.We see managers who are notexpected to belong to unions in theprivate sector, but allow not onlyofficers but also senior officers in theSANDF to become labour union officials,and fail to call it by its name:"conflict of interests". I suppose theyare so incorruptible that they cannotsabotage the system in order toincrease faith in the interventionmeasures of their unions and areprobably immune from falling preyto the attractions of being politicalanimals in uniform with own agendas.Who is to make this man awareof the commander's intent, the labourunion leaders?I wish to state here that, yes, it istrue that there will always be someform of abuse of power. Our historyas a military force is not immune tothis.I, however, want to caution thedecision-makers that in redressing thesituation of those abuses, we shouldnot lose sight of the fact that we haveto remain a credible military force. Iam saying, lock up the man who triesto block the system, but do not generalisethe situation. To be specific here,you cannot replace a military prosecutoror a judge with a civilian one.(Part II will be published in the July2004 edition of SA SOLDIER.)The members of Army Support BaseDurban consist of members from theprevious Natal Command, NatalCommand Maintenance Unit andNatal Command Workshops. A smallpercentage of members came fromother military units.With this background in mind,most of the members had known eachother for a number of years. It was,however, the first time that all membersof Army Support Base Durbanmet on cultural grounds on19 March 2004.A Cultural Day was presentedwhere all members had the opportunityto display their culture. Each sectionhad a specific culture to represent.It was not important what cultureyou were in reality, for that dayyou were a specific culture. It then sohappened that we had white Zulus,white Indians, African and IndianBoere. Even the Chinese were represented.Cultural events presentedincluded Zulu dancing, Indiandancing, Indian instrumental musicand singing, stick fighting demonstrations,"Boeresport", such as egg run,egg throw, sack races and tug-of-war.During all these events eachsection prepared their cultural foodand enjoyed it during lunch. Theday ended in a good spirit andeveryone enjoyed the day.The knowledge gained can neverbe erased from our memories or ourhistory.J U N E 2 0 0 4 • S A S O L D I E R41
Page 6 and 7: eyes, neck and face. New versions o
Page 8 and 9: Are we that short-staffed?Today I w
Page 12 and 13: clippingsDeceased soldier decorated
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Page 16 and 17: (Continued from page 15)Members fro
Page 18 and 19: eventsSouth Africa goes tothe polls
Page 20 and 21: eventsWelcome to ourthink-tanksBy M
Page 22 and 23: eventsInternal auditors maintainhig
Page 26 and 27: eventsTaking over the reinsHe belie
Page 28 and 29: Never ever fail to tryBy PO Dennis
Page 30 and 31: insightOur Navy boasts of itssucces
Page 32 and 33: insight32More than a militarythreat
Page 34 and 35: 34eventsClimbing the ladderof acade
Page 36 and 37: A new lion in the pride36By Capt T.
Page 38 and 39: insightSoldiers and theircommanders
Page 42 and 43: insightArmy College adaptsits train
Page 44 and 45: insightEducating air powerBy Brig G
Page 46 and 47: clippingsSoldier launched areggae a
Page 48: Armscor Advert(Repeat page 48May 20

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