A FEW REMARKS BY ASHTON MLINDENI SIBANGO ON AN ORGANISED RETIREMENT FAREWELL PARADE AT DEFENCE SPORTS GROUNDS, : 31 JANUARY 2020

Programme Director, allow me to acknowledge the Members of National, Provincial and Local Legislatures, respectively, their Excellencies, Foreign and Local Ambassadors here present; the Chief South African National Defence Force, Secretary for Defence, Chief of Staff at Corporate Level, Chiefs of Services and Divisions, Members of the Plenary Defence Staff Council, all of whom are recognised in their absentia, Retired Chiefs of Services and Divisions, General Staff and Flag Officers, distinguished Members of the Military Attaché Corps, All Officers, Captains of the Industries, our Honoured and distinguished Guests, Warrant Officers of all categories, Non Commissioned Officers, Women and Men on parade, Ladies and Gentlemen and my beloved Family, Good Morning, Happy New Year and welcome all of you.

Let me congratulate the South African Air Force on its celebrations marking its twenty odd years of existence and one hundred years of flying experience.

Before, I can deliver what I consider it as the state of my retirement and farewell address, I think it is proper to introduce myself, first, for the sake of a few individuals here present. Standing in front of you, is a Ashton Mlindeni Sibango, a grandson of Prince Zwelakhe Sibango, who was a Military War Veteran of the 2nd World War, together with his brother, Chief Bazindlovu Holomisa.

In 2019, the world had witnessed well-coordinated ceremonies across Europe, Americas, Asia, not certain about Africa and Middle East, commemorating the fallen heroes on the 75th anniversary of the Normandy landing in France, one of the longest days during that specific World War. Prince Zwelakhe, among others in the Republic, heeded to the call to serve in defence of the country and the world at the most challenging period of peace and security in the history of this planet. Amongst the volunteers to fight the damning security threat imposed by Hiltlerism, Prince Zwelakhe actively played his part to secure the freedom of the World and ours in the country. On his footsteps, his grand-son followed suit, in 1981, but joining the military of the Administration, on the widely considered wrong side of the political divide in the history of the Africans in due to a variety of reasons.

Our heroes and heroines fell down with their blood flooding the streams and rivers of the universe and of our country during the colonial wars, the WW I&II, respectively, the protracted armed struggle fought against the white settlers and colonisers of our land, ever since. We also had the resumption of the armed struggle in the early 1960s following the establishment of uMkhonto WeSizwe (MK), Poqo, later known as Azania People’s Liberation Army (APLA), Azanian National Liberation Army (AZANLA) in response to and against the continuous total onslaught in the form of repression and unprecedented slaughter and massacres of the Africans by the Regime, the chapter of which was closed with the peaceful engagements during CODESA in the early 1990s due to insurmountable political pressure brought to bear to the regime by revolutionary forces and political upheavals, on the one hand, and the irrevocable roadmap to the political freedom in the country, on the other hand.

The sons and daughters, men and women who integrated into the security sector after 1994 were confronted with new forms of skirmishes under the umbrella agenda programmes of integration and transformation, respectively, and which ensued to date. During all these summarised generational wars of conquest and liberation struggles, so many unaccounted numbers of sons and daughters of the soil fell down in the country and beyond our borders. In this respect, may I request all of us to bow down our heads to observe a moment of silence in honour of those fallen in search of peace, security and stability in our land and in the universe, ever since, including the current era of Peace Support Operations.

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MOMENT OF SILENCE

May All the Souls of the Fallen Rest in Eternal Peace. We will always remember them.

I would have loved to break the sky together with my instructors as a symbol befitting the honourable salute to all my fallen colleagues during their active service in the military. Secondly, to serve as a source of encouragement to all members of the airborne forces during their force preparation training and, invariably, that would also be of inspiration to the young serving non paratroopers of the Pride of Lions, and the associate Services and Divisions to joint this specialised formation. If I were to consult my better half, a section of my children, my mother and the family at large for that decision, the response would have been a definite BIG NO for most of them were not even aware that we do venture on these crazy activities in the military in search of special elitism in combat character.

In an endeavour to reflect in response to you bidding me farewell, one has no idea where to start from, for a number of reasons that include, inter alia, numerous activities, great moments and tough times that we shared together both in business and in social contexts.

Perhaps, I should begin by expressing my sincere appreciation and gratitude to the Chief of Joint Operations Division, Acting Chief Army and Chief Air Force, Surgeon General, Provost , firstly, for giving necessary authority for the realisation of this auspicious farewell occasion to honour my retirement from the military service, secondly, for providing material support in the form of women and men on parade, aircraft for sky divers, medical support, policing, and lastly my appreciation also goes to each and every official who made this day what it turned out to be. I am very much grateful and remain indebted to your good selves.

Despite all these qualifying excuses given earlier on, one has, equally, every reason to say a word or two, based on the same rational. I would venture to say, Ladies and Gentlemen, it was fascinating to be and working with you. I will always treasure and remember with passion all the excellent and good times that we shared under the military and social settings during my thirty- nine years in military circles, including that of the former Transkei Defence Force and the new South African National Defence Force, respectively. This is most probably one of the few longest records in the history of the entire Hegebe clan to have had such a continuous presence in the military environment.

Today is one of the most important days in my career as a soldier for it marks the beginning of the end, in the sense of a complete disengagement in the defence and security sector to be followed by a complete departure in the military in favour of integration with the civilian society in search of other forms of contribution towards socio-economic development of the nation. One is able to conceive of this moment with mixed feelings because parting ways with family colleagues is never a happy feeling after having bonded for such a long time. I also feel great to return and reunite with my family through retirement that was long envisaged. My departure from the South African National Defence Force, with Joint Operations Division as my exiting point, could not have been at any better time and place, other than at this point in time as I aspired.

After having been accorded space, got exposed and navigated the security paradigms, nationally and internationally, whilst in the military and especially whilst in the corridors of Joint Operations Division, I have, but two things that preoccupied my mind and, they were, firstly, “Being there in order to continue to be of service to the nation”, and secondly, “Going all out in an effort to shape the lives of the people of this country for the better”. This was a wonderful opportunity that one can always take pride when you look back at the positive developments of such an approach in social life generally. 3

I also, similarly, feel grateful because of a sense of accomplishment under an environment created by you for me to optimally demonstrate my fullest potential both in the defunct Transkei Defence Force and in the South African National Defence Force, respectively. I sincerely appreciate each and every one of you for without the calibre of the officers, men and women to whom I was entrusted with privilege and honour to exercise leadership and authority over, such a potential would not have come into fruition. It is you, who created such a favourable climate for one’s star to shine. It is not always the case in the work place and it is very unusual too.

You may agree or disagree with the assertion that words like “bad times” fortunately had never featured in our midst, hence, they could not find any resonance in our vocabulary with the exception of “hard and tough times, difficult moments and hard choices”, “hard, tough and “unpopular decisions”.

It is worth tracing one’s comings and goings as a mere reflection on ones standing within the organisation and community that one has been associated with. Without going that far backwards, I will choose to leave out interesting moments covered by a period of active service with the then Transkei Defence Force. But suffice to say that I can only summarise, for the sake of time, that an officer in front of you today is one that typifies and exemplifies a proudly and uncompromising Military Practitioner conceived, given birth to, brought up, developed, nurtured, moulded and exposed to international military institutions by the former Transkei Defence Force. Such an upbringing had helped me contribute meaningfully to the development of a secure and stable South Africa and with that background I was able to confront any prevailing challenges with courage, vigour and, similarly, without hastening to take any prospective opportunities presenting themselves in the process. It is a Military Practitioner that was further advanced, exposed and developed by the South African National Defence Force to become a Military Diplomat, Defence and Security Strategist, the capabilities of which had shaped my ability to bridge the world of theory, policy and practice in dealing with any diverse international security issues and which were and would still continue to likely pose a threat to South Africa’s security interests.

One was able to live up to the military principle that informs one’s choices to take the advantage of the opportunity that is unlikely to present itself in future” and equally lived up to the “Military Code of Conduct without rhetoric”.

One is only reminded by records, the many mini skirmishes we were confronted with during integration and beyond, and wonders if we would have succumbed on the insurmountable pressures exerted by the conservatives, the pessimists, the doubting Tomas of that time, in our midst. Neither would we have been here taking stock of our achievements today, nor would we, by now, be in a position to claim some of the victories which, somehow, have helped shape the South African National Defence Force that we are so proud of.

Anyway, one can only sense a Feeling of actualising one’s fullest potential and self-esteem with pride, especially, after having navigated through rough Seas and tough Terrains presented by the complexities of the varying social situations.

The referred successes are indicative of positive contributions by each and every one of you who, despite the forces of darkness, remain resilient, committed, devoted, loyal, confident, resolute, optimistic, and visionary in your posture. These are some of the traits which anchored the South African National Defence Force on a solid foundation to date.

It has never been and will never be any act of any individual or particular section within the integrated forces, but remains all the efforts and wisdom of a collective. How counterproductive 4 would it have been, if any of us would become opportunistic in approach to advancing the set developmental agenda of this organisation as individuals or as single entities? That would be a strong recipe for a serious and complete disaster, hence we have rejected, are rejecting and will continue to reject such temptations, inclinations and tendencies, whenever they raise their ugly faces, with contempt.

In summary, the career journey took one to the command line at various levels, including micro, meso and macro, respectively, where most of one’s leadership traits were shaped with a dynamic capable team of Military Practitioners, in a big way in such areas as those of military or defence diplomacy; of Education, Training and Development with excellent military practitioners outstanding in their performance amongst you and, lastly, of Peace Support Missions with successful joint operations conducted to mitigate the regional security challenges both at operational and strategic levels. In this sense, one would definitely and proudly claim to have deeper insight and fair amount of knowledge of the organisation given the nature of diversification one got exposed into, be it nationally or internationally.

However, one has to acknowledge certain fallouts. Out of all these claimed achievements, there is, but one operation, Operation VIMBEZELA, which was a complete failure in terms of expected operational standards and outcomes. It is unfortunate, that we can only decry the processes that manifested themselves out and later ensued with disastrous operational consequences. We ought to take full responsibility and vow, never to happen again in future for the military leadership to score own goals with impunity and unfortunately the national executive was never resolute on the matter, instead, it remained dodgy. I salute, with pride and dignity, all the fallen colleagues in that battle and equally those who sustained multiple wounds from voluminous bullets directed at them, for they continued to remain steadfast and resolute to their military oath and code of conduct, and never were they hopeless in the face of lack of immediate support from the rear echelons.

Reflecting on the state of affairs in the entire South African National Defence Force and with its prospects for the future, one would consider taking stock in terms of its comings, current posture and future prospects.

a. Rightfully so, we should proudly claim a fair amount of progress in terms of integration process and the wider transformation agenda, respectively, considering tangible gains and which can be quantified and qualified in terms of achievable milestones ever since the advent of democratic practices in the country.

b. Currently, would we claim that the South African National Defence Force is adequately prepared and capacitated for the implementation of the following three strategic outcomes, namely, Force Preparation, Force Support and Force Employment?

c. If the answer to the current state of affairs points towards the positive, the future looks bright, but if it points towards the opposite, then indicators would be that there are serious challenges ahead of us and this would only come out of rigorous introspection with objectivity.

Apart from its core business, meaning, “defending the territorial integrity of the Republic and its people”, the South African National Defence Force is also at the centre and an extension of international relations and cooperation. In this respect, it mirrors South Africa’s foreign policy. On the basis of its mandate, it continues to project forces along borders of the Republic and beyond. The question that should continue bothering us, given its operational experience over the last twenty odd years in Peace Support Missions and our border safeguarding operations is: how does 5 the SANDF ensure that it continues to “fit for its operational business purpose” in the wake of the ever increasing security challenges internationally, the escalation of tensions between states and instability in most regions in the world?

The question is consistently relevant if we are to continuously search for new methods to engaging with security issues, differently than usual, with the view to strategically positioning and refocusing the military to the right course with the view to achieving national security agenda.

In championing the course to ensuring that peace, security and stability prevail in our region and anywhere in the universe, as informed by the country’s resolve to employing peaceful methodologies in resolving conflicts, we need to provide answers to the following questions: In our strategic peace and security engagements in the continent, (1) do we initially have to widely commit, sort of being everywhere anytime and eventually become narrower in our approach? In this scenario, can we claim to have that capacity and capability to sustain that approach? or (2) do we get to be selective in our engagements, from narrow approach initially with the view to eventually broadening the scope of our engagements of the countries in dire straits in a spider web like fashion?

Both these approaches have their merits and demerits, but with the scarcity in resources, the latter approach appears more plausible, lucrative and pragmatic than the former because it suggests an incremental approach with every opportunity to improve, given the country’s resource capacity and capability. As the beacon of hope for peace capacity building, we need to take stock and reflect on our previous engagements in order to draw lessons from our strengths and weaknesses with the view to improving our programmes of action in Africa.

In this respect, the leadership of the South African National Defence Force and the Defence Civilian Oversight need to rigorously look into the structural make-up of the entire Defence International Relations, Defence Intelligence Division, Joint Operations Division and Logistics Division to ensure sufficient capacity to engage and drive these initiatives, secondly, it ought to embark on a concerted effort to help formulate a master strategic plan as a blueprint for peace capacity building missions. This envisaged piece of document will spell out clearly the SANDF methods of strategic engagement with outcomes that include, inter alia, mission entry, deliverables and exit mechanisms. The document should, as a matter of mutual beneficiation, be packaged such that the capacity building programmes leave a legacy for the lasting peace. In this sense, it will surely help foster confidence and create long term relations between the capacitating and capacitated parties, respectively.

One of the instruments that need exploration is the concept of Public/ Partnership (PPP). The opportunity that presents itself now may unlikely to exist for our defence industry in the near future. The Republic should not shy from coining and packaging its peace capacity building programmes tailor-made to equipping the forces under capacity agenda with negotiated trade-offs. Much as this approach can help create market avenues to ensure liquidity for the RSA Defence Industry, standardisation of military equipment would foster long term military to military relationships and co-operation, ensure interoperability and smart partnership during multinational exercises and operations as spinoffs.

As opposed to the current approach to engaging the country’s in dire straits, our pride should be to model these capacity building programmes such that they serve to leave indelible marks in the hearts and minds of the nationals under capacitation. For the South African National Defence Force to be able to live up to the expectation, there are couple of adjustments to be considered at national level to fit that purpose earlier referred to. These would include, among others,

• Thorough analysis, clear interpretation and full understanding of our national interests and 6

strategic policy objectives to help guide military strategy or strategies;

• Formulation of responsive military strategies to achieve national set objectives and to help guide the operational level structures;

• Improvement in strategic thinking, analysis, direction and guidance,

• Facilitation of structural makeup coupled with resourcing should be tailor-made to fit the purpose for which the South African National Defence Force is constitutionally and legislatively mandated to achieve;

• Remaining homogeneous in approach to the selection of leadership of the SANDF can only retard the development of the organisation than advancing the national developmental agenda. In its current structural makeup, it is counter-productive in all its facets because it fosters negatives than positives, that include, but not limited to:

o Creating the attitude of US and THEM; o Promoting factionalism; o Promoting elitism and dynasty; o Defeating the objectives for which shared vision and common purpose are broadly based; o Creating the dead wood. o Promoting the culture of entitlement to the favourites, among other negatives.

• Without being sensational about this, supposedly a non-issue, the Corporate and the Executive leadership is urged to lift the third year unofficially declared austerity measure in the form of moratorium in the upward career mobility of human capital resource, (that is, the promotions of the subordinates), with immediate effect. In its outlook, it is no different from the self-imposed sanctions which are punitive, by nature, to the affected subordinates. The practice is unqualified by any management, organisational and leadership norms and practices, therefore, it is uncalled for. It is an unfortunate indictment to the leadership because it is creating a legacy that will forever become an irreparable sinkhole and damage in the career path of the juniors and subordinates.

• The environments of Defence International Affairs/Relations (Secretary for Defence), Human Resources, Defence Intelligence, Joint Operations, Defence Industry, ARMSOR, and leading academics in defence and security should poise as the “leading security think tanks” of the Department of Defence and Military Veterans, among other stakeholders, on matters of Security, Peace and Stability in the region. The concept of Think-tank forums should be considered for various objectives, including Peace and Security issues as alluded to, Education, Training and development agenda, Operational aspects, Defence and Military diplomacy, etc.

• At regional level, the best time is now for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to relook at the probability, potentiality and possibility of the re-emergence of the armed conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), amid the planned calls by the United Nations (UN) to scale down its Peace Support Mission in that country. Regional efforts aimed at continued investment in peace, security and stability by means of intensified peace capacity building programmes to the administration of the DRC and, similarly, consider scaling up its presence in the eastern DRC can augment the efforts by Malawi, Tanzania and South Africa through their Forces Intervention Brigade.

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• Allowing the existence of a security void by the SADC Regional Organ in the DRC, come the realisation of timeframe for the implementation of the UN drawdown plan, will be tantamount to creating and providing a platform for the resurgence of the proxy armed groupings in the eastern DRC, thereby defeating the golden objectives for the original peace investment in the Great Lakes Region. And the relapse of peace and security in that strategic part of the world is what SADC should avoid at all costs because the consequences of such an omission would be far reaching.

I may have created an impression of a gloomy future ahead of us, but here we can pride ourselves of the able and potential young leadership capable of advancing the developmental agenda of the nation to the greatest heights. We just have to give them opportunity and space to turn things around for the better.

Earlier on, I spoke about difficult times, hard choices, tough and unpopular decisions; one had to confront them from time to time. Nothing new in what I am expressing, except to reaffirm certain realities that bedevil leadership of everyone in the course of its practice. In those instances, my advice is, “keep to the Code of Military Conduct without rhetoric and apply it without any fear and ambiguity”, for if you do so, the outcomes will be without any recourse. Leadership should always demonstrate justice in its exercise of its leadership without favours. In addition to being visionary, inspirational, versatility, strategic, you can name all applicable traits required of a leader, I wish to add that a Leader should also be predictable to the Led.

At this point in time, I would like to specifically and specially thank my wife and children for being there for me and with their understanding of the military dictates, you were a source of encouragement and strength at all times.

With specific reference to you, our children and the youth, I can proudly claim with assertion that our forebears did their part in fighting to secure our freedom, not only for their country, but for the international communities, as well. Whilst our generation was also there, it does not necessarily measure up to the standards set by our forefathers. But yours should a revolutionary mind coupled with culture of learning in the corridors of educational institutions, researching in various fields in libraries and exploring new avenues in laboratories through experimentation. Only if you embark on these relentless studies and conduct yourselves in moderation shall you be able to conquer your fourth and future industrial revolutions. As future leaders, you should start now demonstrating a culture of “responsible citizenry” in your approach to challenging situations in social life. Roll up your sleeves now and get to shape your future and that of our generations to come by breaking even from the fostered culture of hand-outs and entitlement.

In conclusion, I am proud to say, to you promising military leadership and would be newly appointed, your stars must shine in the South African National Defence Force so that your subordinates and the nation can see the excellent things you do and never forget to praise the Almighty in Heaven. You have a resourceful human capital at your disposal in terms of intellect, knowledge and experience; make use of it without any reservations and prejudice. It is this very human capital resource that is resourceful enough to either make or break this potential organisation we claim to be all proud of.

I salute you all and may you have prosperous career future ahead of you. I will continue to be supportive of you wherever and whenever it is practically possible.

Thank you, thank you and thank you.

By MAJOR GENERAL A.M. SIBANGO, CT, SM, psc, SA Army St C, ensp, PDM-S, MM