PREFACE

The past decade saw a process of demilitarisation and disarmament taking place internationally. However, this recently appears to have reached a turning point, with countries either experiencing a slump in their disarmament and defence conversion initiatives, or embarking upon or engaged in rearmament programmes. Despite this, many countries still focus strongly on the economic and social reintegration of demobilised personnel. The complexities associated with the reinsertion of demobilised personnel into civilian economies remain a burning issue for many, South Africa being no exception.

Demobilisation and rationalisation are sensitive, complex and politically contentious issues that require careful and well-developed planning before being operationalised. These processes deal with personnel who would often need intensive retraining to provide them with marketable skills that they can use when they are inserted back into civilian life. The conversion of human resources is an integral component of demobilisation and rationalisation processes. It refers to the effective transformation of the skills and knowledge of demobilised military personnel from a military focus to a civilian career. However, this is often easier said than done. In South Africa, where the economy has experienced jobless growth, successful reinsertion of former military personnel into the formal civilian economy becomes even more complex.

The reduction of military personnel in South Africa has been divided into two processes — demobilisation and rationalisation. Demobilisation took place between 1996 and 1998 and was aimed at those who did not wish to integrate into the newly formed South African National Defence Force (SANDF) or those who did not meet the criteria for integration. A number of problems were experienced during the first phases of demobilisation, among others, the poor attempt at reintegration into civilian life. Reskilling programmes were viewed as inadequate preparation to meet the needs of demobilised personnel. The Service Corps, launched in 1995, was a measure introduced by the Department of Defence to oversee the reintegration of demobilised soldiers. The main objective of the Service Corps was to assist in reskilling former combatants. However, it has not been very effective because training was primarily aimed at those with lower levels of skills and training needs. No managerial training was offered and few efforts were made to assist more skilled demobilised military personnel to obtain jobs in other sectors. A process is currently under way to restructure the Service Corps into a Resettlement Agency, which will have a strong development focus in terms of its programme implementation.

The South African Department of Defence will embark upon a rationalisation process to rightsize the SANDF to the desired personnel strength, while providing for the diverse reskilling needs of separated personnel at an affordable cost. This process will entail personnel rationalisation to the required strength of between 65 000 and 70 000 members. However, before the Department of Defence can initiate its rationalisation programme, it has to deal with problems that emerged from the demobilisation programme. Disgruntled demobilised soldiers pose a serious potential threat to the country’s security system. In addition, those soldiers who left the system and find it difficult to reintegrate into civilian life may pose a security problem in future.

For an effective rationalisation and reintegration strategy, the Department of Defence has to be informed by an analysis of the skills needs of demobilised personnel, available job opportunities and skills requirements prior to the initiation of reskilling and training programmes. The retraining offered should match the employment opportunities available in the labour market. In addition, skills training should also be linked with employment creation initiatives. However, training and reskilling have cost implications. It is for this reason that public-private partnerships become an important avenue to explore. The public sector can facilitate the process and the private sector can provide the much-needed resources and opportunities. The rationalisation process should be viewed in a positive light, since it offers a unique conversion opportunity where some highly skilled military personnel can be effectively used in other sectors. However, the general concern is focused on military personnel with lower levels of skills, who will find reintegration more difficult.

The monograph provides a profile of South African demobilised or rationalised military personnel in terms of skills and training needs. It also outlines the current and projected job opportunities available in various occupations (defined in terms of unskilled, semiskilled and skilled) in the different economic sectors of the South African labour market. It is currently estimated that — with an unemployment rate between 20% (using the ‘narrow’ definition of unemployment) and 29% (according to the ‘broad’ definition) — the economy must generate about 250 000 new jobs in net terms to ensure that the unemployment rate does not rise. However, in order to absorb new entrants into the labour market, the economy should generate more than 350 000 net new jobs per annum. According to the National Employment Strategy, the demand for skills and a better educated workforce will increase rather than diminish across the total range of sectors and occupations.

Research has found that most of the reductions in jobs have affected unskilled and semiskilled occupations. This is quite significant when taking into account that the majority of the economically active population in South Africa fall within this category. It is projected that employment growth is likely to occur within the skilled and semiskilled occupations, with the skilled occupations exhibiting longer and more continuous growth. Currently, South Africa has approximately 3 000 000 skilled and highly skilled people as opposed to 7 000 000 people in semiskilled or unskilled work, or who are unemployed. This complicates the reintegration of demobilised personnel, since the majority of former SANDF personnel and combatants fall within the semiskilled category. This raises the issue of suitable training and multiskilling, not only of demobilised personnel, but of the South African workforce in general.

Demobilisation is therefore a broader development problem that cannot simply be dealt with by the military alone. A successful demobilisation and reintegration strategy will indeed require some measure of creativity that involves a range of stakeholders. Although a developmental approach is crucial to the reintegration of demobilised personnel, the importance of political direction on this issue cannot be underestimated. Proper investment into the demobilisation, rationalisation and reintegration process can lead to further development in the country.

This monograph is the second of two that deal with this issue. Demobilisation and its aftermath I: A profile of South Africa’s demobilised military personnel provides research findings that underscore the findings reported in this monograph. It is hoped that both these publications will serve to shed light on the plight of demobilised soldiers, and will provide helpful information for those who are responsible for making and implementing policy and programmes in this regard.

Diane Abrahams
Programme Co-ordinator
Security Sector Transformation Programme
Institute for Security Studies
August 2001