Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

For many years, the military particularly in Botswana has been regarded as a man's domain but a South African woman colonel has demonstrated to Batswana women aspiring to join the BDF that the army is not all about guns and shooting, reports Staff Writer KETO SEGWAI

Since the new commander of the Botswana Defence Force (BDF), Lieutenant General Tebogo Masire, announced the possible induction of women in the military as early as next year, there has been profound interest characterised by animated debates both at places of work and social gatherings.

Though many dismiss the announcement as one of those many false starts, a few are optimistic that at long last women will be afforded an opportunity to serve their country in the army and obviously increase their chances of securing permanent employment. Just last year, the Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Phandu Skelemani, raised our womenfolk's hopes - albeit prematurely.

Amid deafening and consistent calls for inclusion of women in the military, the authorities have always come up with flimsy excuses, the classical one being lack of accommodation. This is puzzling in that logically, where there is a need for facilities - you construct them.

It is also puzzling in that despite Botswana's liberal democracy credentials, it still remains one of the three countries in the 14-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) bloc that has no women in the military. The others are Mauritius and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). According to the August 2006 SADC data, Tanzania, South Africa and Zimbabwe top the list with slightly more than 20 percent women in their military. Others with sizeable percentages are Namibia (14), Swaziland (10), and Lesotho (8.5).

It appears ironic that former colleagues at the University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland (UBLS), have gone on to curve out military careers for themselves, while their Batswana counterparts were denied such an opportunity!

Batswana women's interest in military vocation was whetted during the regional exercises the BDF hosted under the Thokgamo theme in Maun in July last year, in which women soldiers from other countries were prominent participants.

This interest is also evident in the kind of attention Colonel Maria Elizabeth van Wyk attracts whenever she ventures out, in her military uniform, to a local supermarket for a sandwich in Gaborone. Colonel van Wyk (Elsa) is a Defence Adviser at the South African High Commission in Gaborone. She also participated in the Thokgamo manoeuvre last year.

Often on such walk-abouts, she will be mobbed by curious women admirers, bombarding her with questions related to her rather unusual career - at least in Botswana. Friendly-fired volleys would normally include: "Why did you choose to become a soldier? Is it a though job it's made out to be? Do you handle heavy guns?"

The Ermelo-born military attache, obviously due to her diplomatic demeanour, has been patient to field the questions from some of these military-career aspirants. This army veteran, with 26 years of service under her belt, is quick to dispel the notion that the military career is all about guns and shooting.

"There is more to the defence. Generally, the defence force has a wide range of fields or specialisations. In the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), for instance, we have four main arms of service, namely the army, air-force, navy and military health services," noted van Wyk.

Even these arms of services have various corps that handle different tasks, she explained. The army has several corps that includes signals, infantry, artillery, armour, engineers, ordinance, catering and personnel services. Signal corps is charged with communications, radars, information technology and related matters, while the infantry generally comprises the ground troops. The armour corps is tasked with operation of tanks and armoured vehicles while engineer corps deal with landmines, bridge construction, provision of water and others.

"The catering corps are just as important, as soldiers have to operate on full stomachs to be able to execute their assignments effectively," she added. Col van Wyk noted that initially, women were confined to specific corps such as personnel services (administration), signals, ordinance (logistics that include procurement), and to work as nurses. However, the other corps and other arms of service were gradually opened up after the 1994 historic all-race elections. That was the year South Africa ushered in the democratic dispensation. She pointed out that for instance there are currently 1,050 women in the air force.

The forerunner to SANDF, the South African Defence Force (SADF), started women induction in their military in 1971, and van Wyk was fortunate to enrol at the women's college in George, eight years later. After training as a junior leader, she transferred to army gymnasium in Heidelberg.

Since that time, Colonel Van Wyk's military career has been characterised by firsts and commendable achievements. For instance, she was appointed as training officer for the first group of women to train outside George in 1986.

After the 1994 democratic dispensation, when the integration of defence forces took place, she was given the overall responsibility of integrating women training in the signals corps. This was followed by participating in a year-long senior command and staff course in 1999 - a male-dominated undertaking. Other eight women out of a total of 75 attended the course. It included studies in geo-politics, national and international economic perspectives, art of a command and operation art, and conventional and peacekeeping operational planning cycles.

At the end of the course, she was appointed - the first woman at that - to command exercise Zenith. "That did not prove difficult, though admittedly challenging. It was not difficult in that I had been in the course all along with my male counterparts and probably I had earned their respect during that phase. The only challenge is to integrate all the arms of service under a single command.

"It was a situation of having guys in blue air force uniform, white navy uniform and beige/red health services uniform being told what to do with their planes, ships and all, by a woman in a brown army uniform. But really, what matters is the understanding of the core principles of operation. We passed the test."

The successful execution of that exercise obviously led to her promotion to full colonel in 2000. The new position came with the added responsibility of being charged with spearheading integration of blacks and whites within the signals corps. "The team spirit was very good, and camaraderie was so amazing."

Four years down the line, Colonel van Wyk was posted to Gaborone as a South Africa's military attache - and the only other woman serving as an attache is based in Italy.

This colonel - who speaks English, Afrikaans, Zulu and German - has her primary goal to represent SANDF's chief of defence in terms of promoting opportunities for joint training, exchange programmes, linking up defence industry in SA with businesses here for the supply of equipment. She also liaises with other defence attaches based in Botswana.

Does she get the necessary salutation when she visits the local barracks, which obviously do not have women in their ranks? "Oh yes. The BDF and us have similar ranks, so I am accorded the necessary salutations, though often times there is confusion over the use of sir instead of mum - which is basically the British system.

"In SA we use 'good morning colonel or captain or whatever the rank for the greetings. But when chatting then we use sir or mum." What message does she have for Botswana women aspiring to join the army? "If a woman is doing her job well, she will definitely earn the respect of her male counterparts. I am not talking here of the window-dressing types."

And apparently women in the SANDF have been working very hard to break the class ceiling, and highest of them occupies the number three spot in the military hierarchy as a major-general.

Colonel van Wyk concludes that though Botswana has lost time in inducting women in the military, on the positive side she stands to benefit by adopting the best practices from her neighbours. The country does not need to necessarily re-invent the wheel.