MyPE

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THIS is why the SANDF should NOT ‘help’ the SAPS

By

I would like to take you back in time a little bit. Back to the days of apartheid and conscription.

MK1 Casspir
MK1 Casspir

In those days a young white man leaving school had a number of ‘choices’:

  1. Go straight to the Army for two years and another 10 years of one month camps
  2. Go to university and try pass the minimum to avoid service for as long as possible and become a full time professional student
  3. Go to university, get a degree and hope for a cushy, safe army posting
  4. Leave the country
  5. Go to the SAPS for 5 years
  6. Become an objector and go to jail

The National Party had a line to every young man from the age of 16 when he received his call up papers and his force number – I may forget the birth dates of my children but, if you wake me up in the middle of the night, in the middle of the Southern Ocean on a sinking yacht and demand my force number I will recite it without thinking – to this day.

During my basic training in the South African Defence Force (SADF) in the early 1980’s the ‘terrorist war’ moved onto home soil and the police were having a difficult time coping with the added demands on their time.

So, someone thought it a good idea to deploy young SADF conscripts into the townships alongside the SAPS.

After one day of riot training we were deemed fit to do the job.

Stop and think practically for a bit here:

  1. SAPS personnel were trained to uphold the law, prevent and solve crime
  2. SADF Personnel were trained not to think but to hunt and kill

My very first patrol in the townships was in the dreaded SAPS MK1 Casspir – we accompanied a hoary old SAPS member who looked like he could chew nails and spit bullets. As we traveled down one of the roads in this particular township we could see with our limited vision that it was absolutely deserted and then, BANG, a ruddy great rock came flying in through the open ‘skylight’ (the Casspir was hot and we had to have some air).

My immediate reaction was to grab my rifle and get ready for the Casspir to race off and engage with the miscreants throwing rocks at us from a road behind the houses we could see.

The SAPS guys reaction was to tell us to CHILL as they were not there to retaliate but to protect the citizens. So, we carried on down the road.

THAT reaction from THAT policeman has stayed with me for many years as a very valid reason why we have a separation of service between SAPS and South African National Defence Force (SANDF) – the SANDF like their predecessor the SADF, do not have the proper training to deal with crime.

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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.