Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

South Africa's defence sector must come under political strategic evaluation, coordination and control, according to the South African Communist Party's (SACP) policy conference discussion document released on Wednesday.

"Many reports suggest the technical and skills situation in much of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is unravelling, that morale is low, and that the R50 billion first phase of arms procurement has resulted in the purchase of equipment that is often irrelevant to current challenges and deployments, or that we are unable to maintain operationally.

"The Chinese arms shipment destined for Zimbabwe exposed gaps between our military and our political policies and relevant state apparatuses, and, according to at least some reports, our country did not even have the capacity to continuously monitor the location of the Chinese vessel as it sailed around our coast (this may, or may not, be true)," the document said.

Many senior African National Congress (ANC)/Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) deployees into the SANDF appeared to have willingly allowed themselves to be "compradorised" by the international arms companies working with and through former South African Defence Force senior commanders.

Many of these "deployees" had left the SANDF and set themselves up in a variety of defence-related companies and consultancies, with their "deployment" having served the personal purpose of primary accumulation.

"According to reports, much of the remaining black senior command level in the SANDF is content with a ceremonial role and endless overseas conferences, playing little active role in the management and strategic direction of the SANDF.

"Effective operational command is said to be largely in the hands of a second layer senior command dominated by white officers from the previous era, while the mass of black junior officers and [non-commissioned officers] feel marginalised, abandoned by their erstwhile MK seniors, and disgruntled," according to the document.

"While the SANDF situation might not be as dire as some reports suggest, it would be hard to deny that as the SACP and as the wider ANC-led alliance we have been relatively careless about the armed forces situation in our country.

"If we are serious about advancing, deepening and defending the [National Democratic Revolution(NDR)], and if, as the SACP, we are serious about our [medium term vision], then we can no longer afford this carelessness.

"Together with our allies we must ensure a serious strategic evaluation of our defence capabilities and needs, and we need to assess the state of health of the SANDF and its various components.

"In other words, no less than any other sector, the defence sector must come under political strategic evaluation, coordination and control.

"Like any other sector, defence no doubt has its own technical and professional requirements, and here are also national security considerations requiring confidentiality, but none of this can be an excuse to evade serious political (and indeed public) scrutiny and debate."

The role of the SANDF in regard to a wide range of national priorities needed to be much more carefully thought-through, analysed and integrated with other initiatives, such as job creation and skills development, the NDR in Africa, the protection of economic assets including marine resources, and safe-guarding medium- and longer-term national energy security, the document said.