Intensifying Civil War: The Role of the South African Defence Force

Abstract

This chapter explores how the Defence Force’s role has gone well beyond the primary role of any defence force — that of protecting a nation from external threat. It shows how it has been involved in the civilian arena at the level of the formulation, implementation and defence of apartheid policies. The chapter also shows how the South African Defence Force did in the past engage in internal police work, it was usually in a support capacity whether it was involved in crime prevention, relief from natural disasters such as the Laingsburg floods/the recent locust plague/in staffing police road-blocks. For those who wish to look beyond the daily toll of death in the country’s townships, it could be said that South Africa is in a state of civil war to the extent that the terms upon which the present state can survive, and the terms upon which the grievances of the country’s people can be resolved, are mutually incompatible.