South Africa News
South Africa’s military to be redesigned for the 21st Century
South Africa’s parliament has opened discussions about how to redesign the country’s lumbering military to make it fit-for-purpose for the 21st Century. To kick-start the process, a parliamentary committee charged with oversight over the military hosted a mini-symposium addressed by military leaders and experts, academics, political parties as well as civil society. Politics Editor Thabo Leshilo asked Lindy Heinecken, a military sociologist, for her insights.
Historically, a review of the country’s defence has been informed by a white paper or a defence review produced by the Ministry of Defence. What informs the parliamentary process?
The 1996 White Paper on Defence established a broad policy framework for defence in the country’s new democracy from 1994, while the 1998 Defence Review outlined the appropriate size, structure, force design and tasks of the South African National Defence Force.
But, as the force became increasingly drawn into peacekeeping and internal roles – such as fighting crime, the balance between what it is trained, funded and equipped for became misaligned.
In 2015 a new Defence Review was produced given the changes in the strategic environment, and the forces’s state of critical decline, resulting mainly from operational overstretch.
While comprehensive, the 2015 review did not specify what the design and structure of the force should look like. This was left to the politicians, military leadership and ultimately society to decide upon. Five years later, there is still no clear direction and the military continues to muddle along.
What is wrong with the military that needs fixing?
Some hard decisions need to be taken on the future of the defence force. Besides the misalignment of its resources, design, equipment and its additional roles, the military has also been hobbled by misappropriation of funds.
The National Treasury highlighted in a briefing to the Joint Standing Committee on Defence that growing personnel expenditure was the main issue incapacitating the defence force, leaving little money for capital and operational expenditure. This has left the military with ageing equipment, and hardly any funds for maintenance. Meanwhile, the deployment of the military has increased substantially, both internal and externally.
The over expenditure on personnel stems from imbalances in the force design and structure. Over time, instead of having 40% personnel in the short term service (2-5yrs), 40 % in the medium term service (up to age 45yrs), an only 20% in the long term service (until 60yrs), 87% of the regular force personnel ended up serving on medium to extended long-term tenures.
This, together with the failure to implement effective personnel exit mechanisms, has led to deviation from the ideal situation of expenditure being 40% on personnel, 30% on capital, and 30% on operations. Personnel costs are now reportedly almost 80% of the defence budget.
Added to this, personnel expenditure has been driven up to unsustainable levels by increases in pay and benefits that have not been budgeted for, rank inflation and the stagnation of junior and middle ranking personnel. This means that people sit in posts for long periods at the top of their scale, or end up being promoted to a higher rank, beyond the post profile. Other anomalies are a high ratio of general officers and a failure to rightsize the forces in accordance with mission demands. These problems are eroding the defence force’s capital and operating budget.
There is a pressing need for the military to address its human resource management systems.
Going forward, this means accelerating the exit of unfit, overage, unhealthy and supernumerary personnel over the short to medium term. The longer term should see the military shedding all overage personnel, reversing rank inflation and rebalancing the force. This means looking at the ratio of officers to other ranks, and the ratio of support to combat personnel.
This is a difficult political decision. It entails putting former soldiers out onto the streets, with little other than military skills, making it hard for them to get jobs.
More attention needs to be paid to exit mechanisms for the short and medium terms in order to prepare them for a second career. Another problem is that there are not enough young people transferring from the full-time forces into part-time and reserve forces. This affects both the numerical and functional flexibility of the military in times of crises, when it suddenly needs extra personnel, such as during the Covid-19 crisis.
Why is there need for national consensus on the military?
Before the military can address these challenges, there is a need to reach national consensus on what type of defence force the country wants. At present there is a chasm between what the military leadership believes it should be doing, according to the constitution, what the government and politicians demand, and what the public considers important.
Transformation cannot happen without a clear understanding of the military’s future role. Without this, military leadership cannot design, plan, or train personnel for their future roles and missions.
The defence force cannot fulfil its obligations within the current organisational and budgetary constraints.
What should the future military look like?
The defence force is caught in a time warp. It still operates with a mindset and equipment geared for the 20th Century. It has not made the transition into the 21st Century in terms of how to combat future threats, and the use of technology as a force enabler and multiplier. Many tasks, like intelligence gathering and surveillance, can now be done by unmanned aerial vehicles, which are cost effective. But, there is no money for these.
Any restructuring should consider what the future military should look like. But right now, some pressing decisions need to be taken on whether to shut down the military, or channel it towards more pressing issues that affect the safety and security of the country’s citizens.
Given the current budgetary constraints, scaling down to playing only a developmental role is possibly the way to go. This means focusing only on border and maritime security, disaster relief and public order functions.
At the same time, there must be capacity to respond to other pressing geo-strategic security concerns unfolding on the country’s borders, and beyond, that may require a military response.
Does the country have the money to afford the military it needs?
The simple answer is “no”. But, the reality is that there needs to be a balance between the agreed mandate and budget. Within the current context, the mandate is budget driven, not the other way round, unless the security dynamics change dramatically. It is like taking a risk with an insurance policy, what to secure and what not.
Another way to cut costs is to reduce personnel expenditure to fit sustainably into a smaller funding allocation. This is a difficult political decision, but preferable to the military sliding into further decline.
The current impasse makes it the perfect time to march the defence force in a new direction in accordance with what the country needs, can afford, and deliver. Now, more than ever before, robust debate is needed on the future of South Africa’s military.
Source: The conversation
The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has called for transparency, accountability and the elimination of unnecessary expenditures to cut down on the cost of governance in the country. Akpabio made the call on Monday at a one-day dialogue on the cost of governance in Nigeria organized by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies, NILDS, in Abuja.
Akpabio, who was represented by Sen. Agom Jarigbe (PDP-Rivers) highlighted the possible factors contributing to the high cost of governance in the country.He said the size of the country’s bureaucracy, the escalating public service wage bills, the overhead costs of appointed public officials, and the salaries and allowances of elected officials are major factors.
According to him, the running of government institutions among other substantial components contributed to weighing down the economy and hindering development efforts. Let us hold ourselves accountable and take responsibility for the betterment of our nation. We have to ensure that our government operates efficiently and effectively, serving the needs of the people and fostering sustainable development,” he said.
The president of the senate emphasized the need to streamline bureaucracy, eliminate unnecessary expenditures, and ensured transparency and accountability at all levels of governance. We must invest in our human capital, empowering our public officials with the necessary skills and knowledge to drive progress.
“And we must foster a culture of innovation and creativity, where new ideas can flourish and transform our nation,” he said.Akpabio urged all Nigerians to remain united, become agents of change and be committed to making sacrifices for the nation. He said that the 10th Assembly was ready to partner with all stakeholders to do everything within its constitutional powers to make Nigeria for all citizens.
Source: pmnewsnigeria
In other news – Bad leaders making the life of Nigerians miserable – Pastor Giwa
The senior pastor of Awaiting The Second Coming Of Christ Ministry, Adewale Giwa, on Sunday, lamented that the economic situation in Nigeria has gone from bad to worse under President Bola Tinubu.
The clergyman noted that bad leaders were intentionally making life miserable for Nigerians. Read more
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Manchester City 0-0 Arsenal. Manchester City and Arsenal handed Liverpool the advantage in the Premier League title race as they played out a bitterly disappointing goalless stalemate at Etihad Stadium.
Liverpool are now top of the table and two points clear of Arsenal after they came from behind to beat Brighton at Anfield, their delight increased by their two closest rivals cancelling each other out.
This was a game that made a nonsense of its billing as a potential classic, as Arsenal’s containing tactics snuffed out City while the Gunners had only limited chances of their own in a desperately poor affair.
Nathan Ake had an early close-range header saved by Arsenal keeper David Raya before going off injured while former City striker Gabriel Jesus posed an occasional threat, just failing to connect with Bukayo Saka’s cross inches from goal after the break.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta will be happier than City counterpart Pep Guardiola with this outcome – but the real winners were Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool.
Guardiola’s side were under greater pressure to win this match but their usual fluent passing game was rarely in evidence, stifled by the visitors’ organisation and infuriated by referee Anthony Taylor’s reluctance to punish the Gunners for a succession of infringements.
It led to a scrappy, disjointed game in which City were never allowed to gather their usual momentum and rhythm, with even the best efforts of master creators Kevin de Bruyne and Bernardo Silva unable to carve out meaningful opportunities for Erling Haaland, who was kept on the margins throughout.
The hosts held sway in possession for most of the second half but it was illustrative of the game that Raya barely had an anxious moment, his counterpart Stefan Ortega also idle for long periods.
Indeed, it is the first time City have failed to score at home in the Premier League since October 2021, a run of 47 games.
The reigning champions, as usual, will remain confident of retaining their title but Guardiola will be bitterly disappointed at his side’s failure to trouble Arsenal, with substitute Jack Grealish on the end of some lengthy post-match advice from his manager.
City are back here at Etihad Stadium to face in-form Aston Villa on Wednesday night knowing they cannot afford any more slip-ups in this tight Premier League title pursuit.
Arsenal arrived at Manchester City with a point to make and a chance to show their improvement at a ground where they have had a miserable record in the past.
The Gunners last won here in January 2015, drawing one and losing eight of their subsequent nine visits before this game.
Here, Arteta set his side out to be fiercely drilled and well-organised to frustrate, a strategy seemingly designed to earn the point they secured rather than risk more for victory.
It was a conservative approach but what it did demonstrate was that Arsenal do have more resilience and character than on previous occasions, when they have sometimes capitulated under City’s attacking assault.
Arteta’s side were composed but also willing to throw bodies on the line when danger threatened, not that they were ever in serious peril of conceding – a tribute to their display in itself.
They have kept clean sheets in both games against Manchester City this season, making them only the fourth team to shut out a Guardiola side twice in the same season.
Whether this is one point gained or two lost remains to be seen, but Arteta seemed satisfied enough at the final whistle.
source – BBC