Chapter 4

PROFILE OF THE DEMOBILISED SANDF SOLDIER

The demobilised SANDF soldier has many faces: he or she may be between 20 and 60 years old, a successful entrepreneur or a disillusioned unemployed person. However, some general features emerged from the survey among 307 former members of statutory and non-statutory forces: SADF, TBVC Defence Forces, MK, APLA and AZANLA.

General information

By far the majority of respondents were black, male, less than 40 years old and former MK soldiers. The following tables and figures provide information on membership of former statutory and non-statutory forces in terms of age, gender, formal education completed and employment status. The tables show the number (base), percentage and valid percentage (the percentages for the proportion of the sample who had completed the question and/or to whom the question was applicable).

Training and educational levels

Respondents were asked about training and education received during and after their military careers and/or demobilisation. Table 5 illustrates the most important formal education and training programmes that respondents had completed while serving in the statutory and non-statutory forces. The respondents were asked to list, in order of importance, up to four formal education or training programmes that they had completed while serving in the SANDF and/or any other previous armed force. The answers were collapsed into ten categories, which covered various types of training ranging from basic military training to a very specific type of training like, map-reading maps.

Of the respondents, 38% mentioned one or more forms of training that they had received, while 62% did not mention any training. Table 5 clearly shows that the majority of respondents received basic military training and regarded it as one of the most important areas of training. About half of the responses (49%) referred to military training. Administration and human resources were the second most frequently mentioned form of training (10%).

Training received abroad, before joining the SANDF, resulted in more responses than training received during military service inside South Africa. More than half of the respondents (54%) indicated that they had received training outside the borders of South Africa. However, this training was predominantly military in nature.

Respondents were asked to indicate to what extent the training they had received, had helped them in finding other employment after leaving the SANDF. Of the one-third who received military training, more than three-quarters (77%) said that this training had not helped them to find a job. A small percentage said that the training had helped them to some extent (9%). Only 10% indicated that the training had helped them to find employment and the rest (4%) were uncertain.

Given the limited benefit of previous training, 264 respondents (88%) were very interested in receiving further training that would enable them to become self-employed. As is shown in figure 2, only 3% were not interested in further training.

The findings presented above refer to the entire sample of respondents and may therefore hide some important differences between respondents. One obvious distinction, which was relevant for this exploratory study, is between employed and unemployed people. The next section therefore focuses on current employment status and training needs of demobilised personnel in more detail. Other individual differences such as gender, age and education were also analysed. These were reported only if relevant and significant differences were found.

Employment status and training needs

Training and education might mean different things for employed and unemployed people or those who are currently studying or in training. This section deals with employment in more detail.

Employment status was inferred from answers to the question: "What are you doing now?" Employment status contained the following categories: unemployed, in training/studying, working part-time, working full-time and pensioners or homemakers. Figure 3 displays the responses to these categories.

Further analysis of the employed, unemployed and those who were studying revealed interesting patterns. First, unemployed respondents were generally younger. Within the age group 19 to 30 years old, 43% were unemployed. No gender differences were found. Significant differences in educational levels existed between the employed and the unemployed. Approximately two-thirds (65%) of those who were employed on a full-time basis had obtained grade 12 or higher, whereas this proportion was slightly more than one-third (35%) among the unemployed. Those who were studying were most likely to have a qualification between grade 9 to 11. Within the different levels of education, the proportion of studying respondents was larger among those with lower educational levels (50%) and only 34% of the higher educated respondents were currently studying.

Another interesting finding was that, among respondents who were employed on a full-time basis, a larger proportion had studied further after leaving the defence force than among the unemployed or part-time employed respondents (see table 6).

The largest proportion of those who studied further was found among respondents involved in training or studying at the time of the survey. However, 60% of those in training or studying indicated that they did not study after leaving the SANDF. This might suggest that respondents do not regard training as a form of study, but rather perceive studying as a purely academic exercise. Further research could test this hypothesis about the meaning of ‘study’. Perhaps there is a need to enhance the notion that studying is not an academic exercise as such, but rather a preparation to enable participation in economic and communal activities.

Former soldiers who were currently employed were more likely to have completed formal training during their military service than those who were unemployed (see table 7).

Training had not benefited all respondents to the same extent. In response to the question, "To what extent has the training that you received helped you to find other employment after leaving the SANDF?", about 35% of the employed (full-time and part-time) respondents said that the training had helped to ‘some extent’ or ‘a lot’, whereas this was less than 8% among unemployed respondents. Among unemployed respondents, 86% indicated that training had not helped in finding employment. This proportion was significantly larger than those who were employed full-time. Only 60% were negative about the usefulness of their former training in securing employment.

However, the interest in further training was high. This interest was particularly the case among the unemployed and those already involved in training or studies. In both groups, more than 90% indicated that they were very interested in further training. However, the full-time employed (75%) and part-time employed (82%) respondents also showed keen interest in further training.

Respondents were also asked whether the SANDF had provided sufficient support when they left its employment. Overall, respondents were extremely negative about the help that they had received from the SANDF. Only 3% said that the SANDF had done enough. Among the employed, 90% indicated that the SANDF had not done enough to help former combatants. This negative perception was somewhat more frequently communicated among the unemployed. Of this group, 99% thought the SANDF had not done enough to help them when they left the military.

Almost two-thirds of the respondents (61%) mentioned ways in which the SANDF could have helped them. Table 8 shows the categories into which the responses were divided.

The majority of respondents (41%) said that the SANDF could have equipped them with skills that would have improved their chances on the job market. It is noteworthy to mention that part-time workers and the unemployed were the most likely to mention skills development. This implies that, as far as future demobilisation is concerned, the need for training and skills development (especially accredited training programmes) should receive serious attention by the SANDF and other relevant authorities. Some (15%) also indicated that they should have been offered alternative employment within the military.

The fieldworkers’ notes confirmed some of these findings:

"The interviewee is still willing to go back to the army, as he believes he was a good military officer and should serve the country. He would appreciate it greatly if his situation could be dealt with accordingly. He believes that the force will change for the better if they could get people to stand up and not just be window dressers."84

"There was a lot of dissatisfaction coming from … [participation in the demobilisation study] as he feels that the policies in general were not correct and as a result, they were victims of the situation. He still has an interest to come back to the force in spite of the experiences he underwent."85

Others (14%) indicated that the SANDF could have done better in assisting them to obtain work. In table 8, this latter category is indicated as ‘work unspecified’. Some belonging to this group explicitly mentioned employment outside the military, but other respondents may have thought about alternative employment within the military.

Financial assistance, either in the form of a fair package or a ‘pay-out’, was also mentioned by a substantial proportion of respondents. Interestingly, unfair practices were mentioned quite frequently. These referred to, among others, racism, unfair labour practices and the SANDF not keeping promises.

The fieldworkers’ notes contain many references to unfair treatment and feelings of distrust in the SANDF: