Keyword: sandf

The Future of Information Leaks

Picture: leeulekker.com/Flickr Jane Duncan - As South Africa commemorates another World Press Freedom Day, this day will no doubt focus minds on Parliament’s decision to pass the controversial Protection of State Information Bill, or the Secrecy Bill. It will now be forwarded to the President for signing. There are still many fundamental problems with the Bill, but it is greatly improved from previous versions. These improvements have shown that the most secretive sphere of government – the security cluster – is...

The People Shall Obey

Picture: President Jacob Zuma speaking at the memorial service of SANDF soldiers who died in the Central African Republic courtesy GovernmentZA/Flickr. Richard Pithouse - In his speech at the memorial service for the soldiers who were killed in the Central African Republic Jacob Zuma presented us, and not for the first time, with the idea that we should receive another accumulation of bodies – of black bodies – as a tragedy, as a cruel consequence of the random movement of the wheel of fortune. Thabo Mbeki, watching our steady accretion of 'tragedies' from the sidelines, might, perhaps, have recalled a line from Shakespeare: “Our remedies oft...

South Africa's Military Adventurism: A Dangerous Shift in Foreign Policy

Picture: SANDF soldiers courtesy Cpl. Jad Sleiman, U.S. Marine Corps/Wikimedia. Glenn Ashton - The role of the military in Africa has morphed from the established model of supporting strongmen, to that of projecting economic power and influence. This has recently been placed in sharp focus by the questionable intervention of South African National Defence Force (SANDF) troops in the Central African Republic (CAR). The opacity around South Africa’s presence in the CAR has been tragically emphasised by the statistically unsatisfactory outcome of 13 dead and 26 declared injured...

The Danger of the Blindly Obedient Soldier

Picture: Department of Defence: South Africa Jane Duncan - Many South Africans are worried about the mounting evidence of abuse of security cluster resources, and rightly so, as it is a highly sensitive area of government that could easily be used against political opponents of the ruling elite. Without investigative journalists drawing on sources of information inside the cluster, these abuses may not have come to light.   Security cluster employees are often the first people to become aware of abuses, as they are close to the action and...