President Cyril Ramaphosa is the commander-in-chief of South Africa’s armed forces. Adore him or detest him, he represents the will of the majority of South Africans. That majority demands that the armed forces of this republic be under the direction of a civilian elected freely by the citizens of this country. Ramaphosa is that civilian.
South Africans like it this way. We are not a military state. We are a republic where the opening words of our constitution (“we, the people”) are dear to us. We wrote those words with meaning, with intent, and say them with meaning. At the adoption of our constitution in 1996, I saw men and women cry as the phrase, “We, the people of South Africa,” was uttered.
Let me underline this. Chapter 11 of the constitution is very clear: “The president as head of the national executive is commander-in-chief of the defence force, and must appoint the military command of the defence force.”
It goes on to say: “Command of the defence force must be exercised in accordance with the directions of the cabinet member responsible for defence, under the authority of the president.”
It is now clear to any South African with half a brain cell that the minister of defence, the South African National Defence Force chiefs, navy chiefs and others, ignored or defied the president’s instruction that the state of Iran (where at least 2,500 protesters were murdered by state actors over the past week) not participate in military drills held in South Africa. Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, confirmed this to the Sunday Times last week.
The first thing to do right this minute is to fire defence minister Angie Motshekga. The second is to suspend key figures in the SANDF and the navy. It is incredible that Ramaphosa did not do this immediately, but has opted to appoint a “board of inquiry” that will, according to Magwenya, “look at what transpired from the time the instruction was [issued] to the time the exercise started”.
Here you can see, once again, Ramaphosa’s spinelessness and South Africa’s collective penchant for failure to act with decisiveness when faced with a crisis. This lack of decisiveness is increasingly emboldening rogue military chancers in the SANDF who have dreams of coup d’etats (egged on by the numerous military crazies in West Africa). Now, talk of a possible coup in South Africa is rife among political and military analysts. I blame Ramaphosa for failing to nip this in the bud swiftly.
Ramaphosa sat on his hands last year when the chief of the defence force, Gen Rudzani Maphwanya, met Iran’s defence chiefs and reportedly pledged military and political support to the country. It’s not his place to do so. If Ramaphosa wants to pledge support for Iran, he must do so and bear the consequences. Not Maphwanya. His place is in the barracks.
Ramaphosa should know that every so often, as a leader, you must have a backbone and you must get your hands dirty. Leadership is not a popularity contest.
Ramaphosa again did nothing when vice-admiral Monde Lobese claimed that politicians’ underfunding of the defence force was akin to “sabotage”. He is still in office and seems to be implicated in this latest scandal.
I doubt Ramaphosa will take any meaningful action against any of them.
Ramaphosa should know that every so often, as a leader, you must have a backbone and you must get your hands dirty. Leadership is not a popularity contest. Moral and ethical leadership is not for the faint-hearted. Why does he find it so hard to act in defence of the constitution?
Ramaphosa was a key ANC negotiator in 1992 when the democracy talks were derailed several times due to horrific attacks on communities across the country by a faceless ‘third force’. Under pressure from Nelson Mandela, the ANC, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and others, De Klerk ordered Lt-Gen Pierre Steyn to investigate longstanding and credible reports in the Mail & Guardian and New Nation newspapers that South African Defence Force members were involved in “dirty tricks” campaigns, fomented violence and ran “hit squads”.
Steyn found all this to be true. De Klerk acted with firmness. In December 1992 he ordered a major purge of the SADF, forcing the retirement or suspension of 23 top-ranking military officers, including six generals. It is critical to point out that the men he purged wanted to “destabilise the country and undermine negotiations with the ANC”.
Ramaphosa needs to do the same.
Ramaphosa was not in exile in the 1980s. He should know from his formerly exiled comrades what it is like when military types start getting ahead of themselves. In the 1980s the ANC’s military commanders thought they were smarter than their political leaders. They jailed, tortured and killed their own comrades in camps in Angola, Zambia, Tanzania and other places. It is the most shameful and bloodiest period in the ANC’s history — a family secret that the party still has not dealt with.
If Ramaphosa does not deal with the army chiefs now, he will regret it. We will regret it. This is a snake that will come back to bite us sooner rather than later.
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