SANDF back to the Borders
The last South African soldiers deployed for the task of borderline control, an infantry company at Musina, on the Zimbabwe border, were to have been withdrawn in late March 2009. However, as they were about to board their transport to return to base, an instruction was telephoned to them from the office of then Defence Minister, Charles Nqakula, to remain in place. Then President Kgalema Motlanthe on April 29 signed Presidential Minute 549/2009 authorising their continued deployment there until after the 2010 Soccer World Cup, following a request from Police minister Nathi Mthethwa on 17 March 2009.
Henri Boshoff. Head Peacekeeping Missions Programme, ISS Pretoria
The last South African soldiers deployed for the task of borderline
control, an infantry company at Musina, on the Zimbabwe border, were to
have been withdrawn in late March 2009. However, as they were about to
board their transport to return to base, an instruction was telephoned
to them from the office of then Defence Minister, Charles Nqakula, to
remain in place. Then President Kgalema Motlanthe on April 29 signed
Presidential Minute 549/2009 authorising their continued deployment
there until after the 2010 Soccer World Cup, following a request from
Police minister Nathi Mthethwa on 17 March 2009.
On 18 November the Cabinet make it official; the South African
National Defence Force is once again responsible for borderline control
and protection. The new deployment of the SANDF will be incorporated
into the border control strategy being finalised by the JCPS (Justice,
Crime Prevention and Security) cluster. The cluster includes the
departments of Defence and Veterans, Correctional Services, Home
Affairs, Justice, Police and State Security.
Is this a change in policy? According to the cabinet spokesman
Themba Maseko it is not. This question is valid because the 2003
decision was very clear: the SANDF has to withdraw from all support to
the police borderline control by March 2009; Commando units must be
closed and internal support to police in crime fighting will only be on
request. The 2003 decision spelled out the withdrawal of the SANDF in
detail. The Departments of Defence and of Safety and Security at the
time established a joint SANDF-SAPS Exit-Entry Strategy Steering
Committee. This steering committee was eventually replaced by a
dedicated Joint Task Team to plan, coordinate and monitor the
implementation of the exit-entry strategy at national and provincial
level. The Task Team is co-chaired by a Major General (SANDF) and an
Assistant Commissioner (SAPS). The strategy made provision for certain
exit criteria for the SANDF. These were:
- The police had filled every possible vacuum the SANDF had left as
a result of their withdrawal from continuous support in ensuring
urban, rural and borderline safety.
- The SANDF sustain the capacity, in accordance with an approved
inter-departmental agreement, to support the police in joint crime
combating operations where the police could not contain the situation on
their own.
- The SANDF sustain their command and control capacity as part of
the JOINTS (Joint Operational Intelligence System, a command and
control mechanism) to ensure joint command and control in support of
the people of South Africa.
- The SANDF maintain support to the SAPS regarding maritime and air borderline control function.
- The police developing their capacity to take full responsibility
for crime combating in urban and rural areas, as well as for the
control of the landward borderline of SA.
The police`s entry criteria were:
- The police developing their capacity to take full responsibility
for crime combating in urban and rural areas, as well as for the
control of the landward borderline of SA.
- The police maintaining their system of command and control
through the JOINTS to coordinate all operational activities in support
of the people of SA.
- To support this, the police would have the National Intervention
Unit available as force multiplier across provincial boundaries
whenever their support was requested.
- The establishing of 43 area crime combating units inter alia capable of executing borderline duties
- The establishment of sector policing.
Research conducted by the ISS last year, as well as a performance
audit by the Auditor General (AG) on the Border Control and Police
Advisory Council found that the SAPS has failed to take over the
function of borderline control from the SANDF. In addition the AG found a
lack of interdepartmental training and no all-inclusive
borderline-specific training curriculum in place. As far as human
resources are concerned, there is an under capacity of 71% (the
proposed personnel structure is 970 members while the actual number is
only 283). This means that the primary function of borderline-control
cannot be effectively carried out. The AG also found no security
analysis of the border fences had been performed. Places were found
where border fences were inadequate or even non-existent. There were no
compensating patrols or monitoring processes in place in areas where
there are no or inadequate border fences.
The redeployment of the SANDF will take a while, as they has to get
new equipment and start to build up intelligence, as well as
command-and-control again. The SANDF will need funding to restore
border bases, new vehicles, other mission specific equipment, proper
mission-specific training, and deployment allowances. They will also
have to find a way to regain the local knowledge of the border areas
lost when the Commandos were disbanded. Perhaps they need to find some
way to draw them into the Reserve Force under a different system.
The return of the SANDF to the function of borderline control in
isolation will also not be successful. It must be seen against the
concept of border protection that includes border post, borderline and
area protection. The implementation of area protection was based on the
deployment of area protection units in the form of Commando units. They
were disbanded between 2003 and 2008 and the function was supposed to
have been taken over by sector policing. Reports and research indicates
that this concept has also failed. It is unclear how that will be
rectified.
