Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

The New National Party (NNP) has called for the creation of a national constabulary to replace the controversial commando system scheduled to be phased out within six years.

President Thabo Mbeki shocked some farm communities and organised agriculture in February when he said the commando system would be scrapped. Cabinet ministers have since sought to allay fears that rural safety would be compromised, saying the commandos would be scrapped finally only once an alternative had been developed.

It was said the commandos were being scrapped for the role they played under apartheid.

They were used as the first line of defence against incursions by liberation movement armies.

Yesterday NNP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk said that as a result of the Mbeki announcement, the NNP met with Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula and Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota to raise the serious concerns expressed about the scrapping of the commandos.

Van Schalkwyk said the NNP undertook at the meeting to make constructive proposals.

Unveiling proposals for an SA constabulary, he said they were "immediately implementable" and "cost effective".

The idea was for a 120000strong "mobile and lightly-armed patrol force, comprising both full-time and part-time elements and incorporating not only elements of the commandos but also personnel from other sources". The plan was for 20000 full-time and 100000 part-time members.

The major departure in the NNP proposals was to make the constabulary responsible directly to the defence minister rather than the chief of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) as was the case with the commandos.

This was intended to address legitimate concern about longterm military deployment in support of a civilian government.

"Typically, a constabulary focuses in peacetime on protecting and supporting communities in various ways like general crime prevention patrols, roadblocks, antidrug operations, crowd and riot control, border control, traffic and first-phase disaster relief.

"In times of war or grave emergency, part or all of the force would be directly integrated into the SANDF to assist with internal security, key-point protection, road and rail control, border control and securing the rear battle area," Van Schalkwyk said.