Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

The case against 12 military health students who face charges that include prejudice to military discipline was postponed in the Pretoria Military Health Service Court this week.

The case was postponed to February 27 for investigations to be finalised.

Eleven men and a woman face charges of riotous and unseemly behaviour, public violence, disobeying lawful commands, malicious damage to state property and prejudice to military discipline.

The charges against the 12 follow clashes with military police on February 4. The accused allegedly took part in a drinking binge and violently tried to stop police who attempted to intervene.

They were allegedly part of a larger group that barricaded roads with dustbins, tables and chairs as they partied at the Military Health Training Formation outside Pretoria.

Reports stated that military police tried to storm the three barracks where the parties were taking place, but were forced to retreat, driven back by students armed with fire extinguishers and broken furniture.

Last week, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota was compelled to threaten stern action against serving and former SANDF members who, under the ambit of the South African National Defence Force Union (Sandu), had planned to disrupt the opening of Parliament in an attempt to make their grievances heard.

Such incidents should not be seen as characteristic of every unit, argued Henri Boshoff of the Institute for Security Studies. The problems were structural.

The military in post-apartheid SA consists of two main divisions: the civilian arm, which determines policy and is headed by the defence secretary. There is also the operational arm, which falls under the chief of the SANDF.

Boshoff said the civilian arm was yet to fully establish itself. "I think it is still trying to find its feet." Yet, following the transformation phase of its early days, the SANDF was in a consolidation phase characterised by substantial expectations to deploy in many of Africa's trouble spots.

But the SANDF was still not free from the problems of a "skewed rank-age profile" -- consisting of much less deployable older members caught within the lower ranks. The army has to contend with aging equipment and the incidence of HIV, which is estimated at slightly higher than the national average.

Leadership, too, is one of the military's weaker areas. "The chain of command is not functioning optimally -- in fact the human resources management is dismal," said Stellenbosch University defence analyst Lindy Heinecken.

It also did not help matters that SANDF head Godfrey Ngwenya was believed to be unwell, although the effect of his illness on his abilities was unknown. "They knew this when they appointed him," said Heinecken.

The SANDF has also failed to deal with labour issues. Heinecken blamed Lekota for "consistently" undermining the collective bargaining process, "which has meant that grievances have heaped up, leaving Sandu with no choice but to constantly bargain on the courts to intervene".

The union was pushing for a negotiated salary increment, among other issues.

But defence spokesman Sam Mkhwana zi said although it was a recognised union, Sandu had not proved it ha d a membership of at least 15000, a prerequisite for it to sit on the military bargaining council.