Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

Killing the commandos GOVERNMENT says it is listening to farmers on the matter of their security, but has decided to phase out the commando system. There are about 51000 commandos, part-time soldiers grouped in 180 units under the SA National Defence Force who are called up for short periods, often in support of the police, for protection of the areas in which they live. The government's rationale for phasing them out is that during apartheid, the commandos played a role in apprehending freedom fighters and infiltrating the military wings of liberation movements. That hardly seems cause enough. After all, the rest of the military, of which the commandos are a part, played precisely this role and a far larger one in upholding apartheid. The defence force has struggled to transform since the first democratic elections in 1994, but for the most part it appears to have succeeded. There is no reason why the commando system cannot also transform, if in parts it has not already done so.

Indeed, the black membership of commandos has increased. If attitudes are similar to what they were in apartheid's heyday, there is no reason that those who do not uphold nonracial views cannot be ejected if there are complaints about their conduct. One of the dangers in phasing out the commandos is that the more gung-ho in rural areas may now resort to vigilante type action. Is it not better that commandos provide an outlet for members of rural communities who wish to play a policing or military role? Under the authority of the SANDF, these groups are fully accountable for their conduct and each bullet they are given. The abolition of this institutional framework may also be regretted when a rapid response is needed to local disasters. One value of the system is also as a source of employment, which helps reduce crime.

Government says it intends to replace the commandos with a new unit of the police, the Protection and Security Services Division, which will be responsible for farm security, border protection, national key points and VIP protection. Wisely, the group that represents commercial farmers, AgriSA and the Institute for Security Studies, has warned against phasing out the commandos until an effective alternative is in place. Considering the scale of the crime problem, there is no reason the commandos could not work with this new unit of the police. SA should try to throw everything it can into the fight against crime.