Thomas Mandrup

An uncertain future: South Africa’s national defence force caught between foreign-policy ambitions and domestic development

ABSTRACT In June 2015, the South African Parliament passed the long-awaited defence review (DR2015). The aim of the review was to stop the decline of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and to create an economical and sustainable force structure capable of continuing to fulfil its constitutional obligations and to support the country’s foreign policy, primarily in relation to Africa. However, implementation of the DR2015 has turned out to be difficult. The major claim of this article is that the processes of demilitarisation and transition since the end of apartheid, combined with years of underfunding and the lack of a priority given to the SANDF has reduced the latter’s professional military capabilities to such an extent that in the future it will find it difficult to function in the active international role it has played since the end of the 1990s. The reduced role of the SANDF is also an illustration of South Africa in general prioritising domestic developmental and security challenges, as well as its footstep in Africa. The study is based on extensive empirical data collection in South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the form of a string of semi-structured qualitative interviews, primary documentary research and an extensive academic literature review conducted from 2000 to 2017.

Reforming the bras tendus? The Congolese National Police reforms, 2003–2016

ABSTRACT The security sector reform (SSR) programme in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has failed, according to a former high-level member of the United Nations (UN) mission in the DRC, as a large section of the country remains outside government control, and the security institutions of the state continue to constitute one of the predominant sources of insecurity for the local population in a number of ways. Based on several field studies, this article critically scrutinises the SSR of the Congolese National Police (Police nationale congolaise; PNC) and the efforts to reform it between 2004 and 2016. It further attempts to explain why so little progress was made in the SSR of the PNC, despite extensive involvement from donors. The article shows that the instrumental and traditional approach to SSR is partly to blame, because in this case it failed to address the root problems and initiate the needed fundamental reform and reconstruction of the police force. It also shows that reforming local security institutions becomes even more difficult when the local authorities do not support the effort.

Peace diplomacy: The South African national defence force in Burundi

As discussed in earlier chapters in this volume (particularly Moller), the role of the armed forces has undergone significant changes since the end of the Cold War. The traditional focus has changed from a narrow territorial defence to a broader societal approach, where the armed forces are just one element in dealing with the security threats that modern societies face. In South Africa one of the consequences has been that the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) increasingly has been asked to handle what are traditionally defined as secondary tasks, such as domestic policing, border control and, since 1999, international peace support operations (PSOs).

On Strategy: Stategic theory and contemporary African armed conflicts

CITATION: Vrey, F., Mandrup, T. & Esterhuyse, A (eds). 2010. Conference Proceedings - On Strategy: Strategic Theory and contemporary African armed conflicts, presented at Stellenbosch 10-11 June 2009, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. doi:10.18820/9781919985404.