South Africa: Ten Years of Military Unionism

Abstract

Up until 1993, the South African armed forces were an essentially all-white conscript force, fighting a war ‘in proxy’ in neighbouring states and within the country, against a perceived communist onslaught. During this period, the former South African Defence Force (SADF) was central to state functioning and funding. With the end of the Cold War and the subsequent demise of Apartheid, the armed forces were forced to adapt not only to the new security environment, but to the imperatives spelt out in the newly forged Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. This was to be a traumatic time for the newly established South African National Defence Force (SANDF), which came into being in April 1994. The challenge of having to integrate seven former enemies into one cohesive force has been no mean task, and the legacies of past loyalties continue to divide the forces. The challenges stretched beyond just the need to integrate, thereby swelling the size of the SANDF, but to downscale the forces to affordable levels in years to come. As Seegers (1996, p. 280) states, “the SANDF encountered two big problems simultaneously, integration and a desperate popular need for employment”. Therefore, rationalisation would inevitably be met with some collective resistance. Adapting to the principles enshrined in the Constitution also meant that the SANDF had to adapt its policies and practices to meet the democratic imperatives spelt out in the Bill of Rights. Without doubt, one of the most contentious issues was the pressure exerted on the SANDF, even before 1994, to amend its labour relations mechanisms for uniformed personnel. The Constitution provided the legal sanction for military unions and despite vehement resistance, the SANDF eventually had to concede to this right when it lost the case in the Constitutional Court in 1998. Even so, the shock of having to deal with trade unions within its ranks and to bargain with the unions over “all matters of mutual interest” has been no mean feat.