Changing International Realities and the Configuration of the South African National Defence Force in the 21St Century
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
CHANGING INTERNATIONAL REALITIES AND THE CONFIGURATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL DEFENCE FORCE IN THE 21ST CENTURY LAETITIA OLIVIER Thesis submitted to meet the requirements for the qualification Philosophiae Doctor in the Faculty of the Humanities in the Department of Political Studies and Governance at the University of the Free State Supervisor: Prof T. G. Neethling Co-Supervisor: Prof F. Vreÿ January 2015 DECLARATION By submitting this thesis electronically, I declare that the entirety of the work contained therein is my own, original work, that I am the owner of the copyright thereof (unless to the extent explicitly otherwise stated) and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it for obtaining any qualification. Signed: Laetitia Olivier Date: 29 January 2015 Copyright © 2015 University of the Free State All rights reserved ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to acknowledge, with gratitude and humility, everyone who has knowingly or unknowingly, directly or indirectly, influenced my life in a positive way. I also wish to thank everyone who has made it possible for me to complete this study: my Creator, God Almighty who constantly watches over me my supervisors, Prof T. G. Neethling and Prof F. Vreÿ, for their insights and guidance in conducting this study. However, any errors of fact or interpretation that may be contained in this study, are entirely my own. my family and colleagues, especially my two ‘Brothers in Arms’, Col Daan Coetzee and Capt Marius Whittle, who have been a constant source of support and encouragement Laetitia Olivier University of the Free State Faculty of Humanities January 2015 iii ABSTRACT The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is currently in the process of evaluating its policies, strategies and force design in order to ensure that it is optimally postured and configured to successfully carry out its ordered tasks in the 21st century. Success will depend on how well the SANDF analyses the environment in which it will have to function, as well as how well it prioritises its objectives when making decisions about the most appropriate approach to the development of a national security strategy, force planning and the role of the military as one of the components of national power. The study examines developments in the South African defence debate since 1994. Two key policy documents, namely the South African White Paper on Defence of 1996 and the South African Defence Review of 1998, established the national defence posture and defined the functions and tasks of the Department of Defence. The primary organising principle behind these documents was its commitment to designing the SANDF for its so- called primary role, namely the preservation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of South Africa against an external military threat. This principle was ultimately used as a yardstick to determine the SANDF’s force design, force structure and capability requirements. The focus on the primary tasks of the SANDF has, over time, proven to be misaligned with the governmental objectives to be achieved and it has become evident that the force design and structure as prescribed in these documents fail to adequately address the current and future operational requirements of the SANDF. Furthermore, many defence analysts have pointed out that critical issues such as the continuing misalignment between the allocated defence budget and expected defence outcomes have also not been addressed. This has created a dilemma in which the SANDF, despite the acquisition of state-of-the-art air and naval assets in 1998, is still not optimally configured, adequately trained or equipped or sufficiently funded to execute and sustain its required operational tasks. Furthermore, due to significant changes that have taken place in the security environment since 1994, it has become evident that the principles on which the SANDF was originally designed might no longer be relevant to current defence requirements. The study includes an analysis of the 21st century’s security environment – a threat environment that is, and will be, characterised by political and social complexity and a variety of modes of warfare that will converge in unexpected ways. Defence forces will have to develop capabilities to conduct a wide range of missions simultaneously while retaining the capacity to operate across the full spectrum of warfare – from traditional iv warfighting and peacekeeping to disaster management and support to other government departments. These requirements demand a reassessment of the current SANDF force design and force structure as the current frameworks have proven to be misaligned with current Government deployment requirements and the characteristics of the prevailing African security environment. The study is based on the premise that significant changes should be made to the current SANDF force design and structure. The 2014 Defence Review highlights the fact that the SANDF is, and will be, expected to play a variety of roles in Africa, and that it will often be deployed in ‘secondary’ functions such as peacekeeping, border management and humanitarian support. Despite this shift to a more holistic and multifunctional approach to defence, which addresses both traditional and non-traditional roles of the military during Joint, Interdepartmental, Interagency and Multinational (JI2M) operations, the 2014 Defence Review continues to structure the SANDF in accordance with traditional single service organisational structures. These structures, the SA Army, the SA Navy, the SA Air Force and the South African Medical Health Services are not optimally configured to meet the demands of JI2M deployments. Defence planners refer to the adage that structure follows strategy, therefore, if the SANDF is expected to function in a joint environment, its force design and force structure should reflect this ‘jointness’ as the essence of its design principles. The study concludes that the logical cost-effective solution to the configuration of the SANDF would be the adoption of a modular force design, based on composite brigades that could be utilised as interchangeable building blocks which can be tailor-made for specific deployments, rather than to continue with the cumbersome traditional practice of using the services as building blocks. Modular force design will enable the SANDF to have a mass organic, scalable, joint precision effect, at an increasingly higher level than before, and enable the SANDF to balance the principles of concentration of force with economy of effort. v OPSOMMING Die Suid Afrikaanse Nasionale Weermag (SANW) is in die proses om die organisasie se beleid, strategieë en magsontwerp te evalueer om te verseker dat die Weermag optimaal gekonfigureerd en georiënteerd is om take, soos deur die Regering vereis, suksesvol gedurende die 21ste eeu uit te voer. Die sukses van hierdie proses sal bepaal word deur hoe goed die SANW se beplanners daarin sal kan slaag om die omgewing waarin die SANW waarskynlik sal opereer te analiseer, sowel as deur hoe goed die beplanners die organisasie se doelwitte sal kan prioritiseer wanneer hulle beslissings maak oor die mees gepaste benaderings tot die ontwikkeling van ’n nasionale veiligheidstrategie, die magsvoorbereiding en die rol wat die Weermag sal moet vervul as een van die komponente van die staat se magsbasis. Die tesis verken die ontwikkelings in die Suid-Afrikaanse verdedigingsdebat sedert 1994. Twee primêre beleidsdokumente, naamlik die Suid-Afrikaanse Witskrif ten opsigte van Verdediging van 1996 en die Suid-Afrikaanse Verdedigingsoorsig van 1998, het die nasionale verdedigingspostuur geїdentifiseer en het ook die rol en take van die Departement van Verdediging duidelik uitgespel. Die primêre organisatoriese beginsel wat in hierdie twee beleidsdokumente vervat is, was die oriëntering tot die organisering van die Weermag om sy sogenaamde primêre rol, die beskerming van die sovereniteit en territoriale integriteit van die staat teen aanvalle deur ’n eksterne militêre bedreiging te vervul. Hierdie beginsel is dan ook gebruik as maatstaf om die SANW se magsontwerp, magstrukture en vereiste verdedigingskapasiteit te bepaal. Die fokus op die uitvoering van die Weermag se primêre take is egter met verloop van tyd uitgelig as ’n onvanpaste benadering tot die rol wat die Weermag moet vervul en dit het duidelik geword dat die magsontwerp en magstruktuur wat in bogenoemde beleidsdokumente uitsgespel word nie daarin geslaag het om aan die huidige en toekomstige operasionele behoeftes van die SANW te voldoen nie. Verskeie kenners op die vakgebied van nasionale verdediging is dit ook eens dat kritieke aspekte van die verdediginsdebat in Suid-Afrika, soos die verdedigingsbegroting wat nie met die voorgeskrewe en verwagte verdediginsdoelwitte ooreenstem nie en ook nie in een van die beleidsdokumente geanaliseer word nie. Die dilemma het onstaan dat die SANW, ten spyte van die feit dat nuwe vegvliegtuie en frigatte ten duurste aangekoop is, steeds nie optimaal gekonfigureerd is nie en dat lede van die SANW nog nie optimaal opgelei en toegerus is om operasies suksesvol uit te voer en logisties te ondersteun nie. Verder het dit, in die lig van verskeie ingrypende vi veranderings wat in die Suid-Afrikaanse veiligheidsomgewing sedert 1994 plaasgevind het, duidelik geword dat die beginsels waarop die samestelling van die SANW aanvanklik gegrond was, nie meer relevant is tot huidige en toekomstige verdedigingsbehoeftes nie. Die studie sluit ’n analise van die