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Military Relations: a Qualitative Exploration

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Military Relations: a Qualitative Exploration TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION PROCESSES AND CIVIL- MILITARY RELATIONS: A QUALITATIVE EXPLORATION by Johannes Christiaan Rudolph (Ian) Liebenberg submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY in the subject SOCIOLOGY at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA Promoter: Prof W. J. Schurink Joint Promoter: Prof V. Shubin NOVEMBER 2008 Declaration by Candidate I declare that this thesis is my own work and that all sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. J. C. R. (Ian) Liebenberg Student Number: 0430 - 548 - 5 November 2008 ii Acknowledgements and (re-) Memories Birds need not only wings, but air in which to fly. The desert scorpion, despite agile legs and heavy armour, will find itself helpless in a calm sea. If Kipling was correct in suggesting that “the heights by great people reached and kept were not obtained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upwards through the night”, then acknowledgements are crucial. Not that one is great or necessarily at great heights, but no working person exists as an island, nor does a single somatic being constitute tradition and achievements attained or aimed at. In all this we stand but on the shoulders of others that went before us and those accompanying us. This is true for the research track here. Numerous people played a role over a long time. I owe gratitude to a great many friends past and present and not all of them can be mentioned here. I humbly tender my apologies in this regard. I would like to thank my chief promoter, Prof Willem Schurink, for his supervision, insightful and creative guidance and a caring approach to both student and study. His consistent moral support and warm friendship over nearly two decades – some testing years, other happy times – are indeed deeply appreciated. Prof Vladimir Shubin, Institute for African Studies, Moscow, co-promoter through the trials and tribulations of this particular study: Vladimir deserves only the greatest gratitude. One could not have hoped to have a more diligent and supportive colleague, a practical-minded promoter, a critical soundboard and consistent (if candid) motivator for what was done in the course of this project and still to be done in others. If a single candidate was ever graced by promoters that surpassed the requirements of time and guidance given in the course of a study, Vladimir and Willem qualify for that description. In setting an example of how to be promoters and in exemplary interaction with students and colleagues, their inputs and consistent presence throughout this journey humble one. I trust that I will follow such footprints with my future students. I greatly appreciate the assistance and advice of various peer debriefers. In a qualitative study, peer debriefers play a critical part in ensuring the trustworthiness of a study. In this case they were Gen. Solly Mollo (SANDF), Col (Dr) Louis du Plessis (CEMIS) and Dr Rialize Ferreira (Department of Sociology, Unisa). Unknowingly to all of us at the time, my late friends Rocky Williams and Ruhr Martin played a role as (never distant) peer reviewers through their sharp and critical minds, wit and sharing of life experiences. In this regard I was indeed graced by the gods. The participants in this study – anonymous as required by qualitative research standards – deserve a thank you. They formed part of the backbone of the research process. They shared with me valuable insights, a lifetime of experiences, emotions and frequently opened new and critical vistas. Not only did they share emotional and rational experiences and choices, but also honest criticism and fears about past wrongs that can easily be transformed into future wrongs if we do not take care about people, society, politics, the coercive arms of the state and lessons learnt throughout history. iii Various friends and colleagues played a role in discussions, alerting me about new materials written or orally, pointing out other case-experiences, challenging my perceptions and establishing contact with research participants, or simply being there. Others pointed out valuable theorists or practitioner’s publications, even illustrative fictional works – some of these incorporated into the study and reflected in the source list. Among others there are Gert van der Westhuizen, Tienie and Hettie du Plessis, Mandla Seleoane, Dr. Ina Snyman, Tyrone and Bernadette Richards, Michael Cloete, Pieter Snyman, Martin Mendelsohn, Margot Pienaar, Marlene Roefs and Arlene Grossberg. Others over years – not necessarily directly linked to the particular area of research – shared not only insightful ideas, critical comments, witty humour, satire, friendship and compassion, but a lived existential poetry of being, persisting through ups and downs yet with a firm attitude of surviving through excellence, an ever hopeful cynicism over our South African “condition” and in their being people of the African soil. Charl-Pierre Naudé, Mercia van Wyk, Mandla Seleoane, Petrus (Omar) de Kock, Francois Pienaar, Russel Brownlee and a dear late friend Elize Botha (“Maatjie”) who unexpectedly at a young age left us behind, come to mind here. Barbara Bradley assisted as language editor and Tienie du Plessis dealt efficiently with the layout. I offer them my gratitude. Barbara did wonders with rehabilitating a South African English text created by an Oranje Rivier/Groot Gariep/Kalahari/Boesman boykie who has a remarkable ability to ignore the rules of (English) grammar as if they are simply nuisance variables. Tienie added that necessary touch of experience to make a somewhat lengthy and arguably, tedious, text friendlier to the reader (it is to be hoped) and thus break the monotony of a world where far too many people and texts still see everything around us in exclusive shades of white, black and grey. Hettie Beyleveldt and Hermien Bolton assisted with corrections. Their input is well appreciated. I thank Magda Kruger and Annekie Jansen, departmental administrators at the Unisa Department of Sociology. When I became engrossed in this study or other projects, they took care in a very diplomatic way to remind me about pending assignments and deadlines in the department – in good time and always in a friendly and warm collegial manner. I thank Mariaan, my life partner, and I-Ben Mangaliso and Marian Thandiwe, our young lions. Mariaan en die leeutjies were not only an existential source of inspiration, but also provided moral support and the needed diversions of various sorts in a drab and predictably tedious march towards attaining just “another qualification” in the hallowed (if not over-rated) world of academia. I thank them for support and love and most of all, the patience to deal with “the researcher in action” / “activist doing research” in this project as well as numerous others. Special mention has to be made of Mariaan’s urging me on with this particular project and providing financial support in the finalisation of the submission (lecturers at our university are not known for their large salaries but rather cash flow challenges). Thanks, Maan! Mariaan, Tienie and Ruhr Martin were possibly the only persons to share and understood the author’s deep dislike for the pretence and elitism – even arrogance – of the academic world and why I sometimes delayed working on this particular project. I cannot have but deep appreciation and respect for them in this regard. Outside the strict academic sphere others played a role. Len Els, martial arts instructor, knowing this “long march experience” challenged me by offering two years ago, the use of his complete five volume TRC Report with the promise that on successful conclusion of the iv project the report would become mine (I could not at the time afford to buy one myself). Well, that is one way to motivate a student! Humorous and contextual Zen-like quotations adapted to our African condition also played their part. Finally it is done, Sensei! Domo arigato and kampai! If not for hobbies, travel, friends (including one’s household non-human animals) and sport, the strains of lecturing, writing and publishing, completing a doctoral thesis, domestic life or mere life administration in general could get to a human animal. One memorable habitat was/is the Karateka 40 group. We shared sweat, concentration, fighting combinations and frequent laughter. Such comradeship and esprit de corps contributed much; even if these fellow karateka did not realise it … Senseini Solly Pokroy, Eddy Dorey (ex officio), Len Els and Jan Beetge need mentioning. So does Marlene, Pieter, Mariaan, Stephan and others (which reminds me that a “D” and achieving a Shodan, Nidan or any other grade, shares similarities: Both require time, focus, cooperation, interested and human instructors, humility, a supportive environment, integrity, long hours of training and feelings of trepidation and elation, emotional ups and downs. Both require from the involved actor to “storm the castle” and “part the clouds” while keeping end goals in mind.) In this regard training with Sensei Steve Madue, Bra Sam, Annelize Young and our group in Arcadia also played a valuable role. In writing this I could not help to remember the support, love and loyalty of my late father, Eben Liebenberg, and my mother, Bessie. Throughout, they were a source of critical support and empathy. And I guess much of the tracking represented here started off with long father/son talks over many years in and over red sand dunes … In expressing gratitude to the above people, none of them should be burdened with the contents and/or outcomes of the study, which remain my responsibility. Many others persons and their work of life, which I admired over decades, also played a role in reflecting on society and the present study here. Obviously/sadly none of these persons I ever met.
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