INTRODUCTION
The SA Army
Chaplains Service has been tasked with the development of a Moral Regeneration
Program for the SA Army and hopefully for the SANDF. This article is shared as
preliminary thought for discussion on the matter.
Since the dawn
of our new democracy there have been calls for moral regeneration in our society.
Indeed, the Moral Regeneration Movement
(MRM) was formally established in
1998 after a meeting between President Mandela, faith-based organisation
leaders, Fr Smangaliso Mkhatshwa and the SABC. This was followed
by a Moral Regeneration Summit (see www.mrm.org.za
for full details).
A moral regeneration program in the SANDF is
appropriate and necessary. Soldiers pledge their allegiance and commitment to
the Code of Conduct. Soldiers are expected to behave in a moral, ethical and
exemplary manner in and out of uniform. Their behaviour must be above reproach
and instil trust and pride in the general public. Soldiers should be held in
high esteem by the public and respected as men and women of high ethical and
moral standing. In practical terms this means that soldiers should never go
absent without leave, engage in promiscuous sex, or abuse alcohol or drugs, and
not engage in any ill-disciplined or criminal activity. On deployment, soldiers
must behave in a professional and ethical manner, especially when they are
dealing with people who have become vulnerable as a result of war.
THE
PRESENT SITUATION
Soldiers however, are members of society and are a
product of that society. They join the SANDF with the values and norms
instilled in them from their families and communities. Thus, if one is to
engage in moral regeneration that is authentic, one must be aware of the
current moral situation of society as a whole. There are troubling signs.
Racist incidents are on the rise, which is amplified by social media and
exploited by those with narrow self serving political agendas that cause even
more division and racial hatred. Our society is still largely segregated along
racial lines. Corruption is on the rise, in every sphere of our society. Crime
and violent crime continue to be a problem. Rape of women and children is a blight
on our social order. Murder rates are unacceptably high. More and more,
disgruntled communities are resorting to violent protest to make their voices
heard and are not willing to engage in negotiations, even if their grievances
are legitimate. All of this is taking place in the context of a society where
unemployment is amongst the highest in the world and economic inequality is
extreme
Our education system is dysfunctional and there is a
high dropout rate at school level. There is a large discrepancy in the quality of
education between schools in well resourced areas and those in poorer
communities. Many young people who do qualify for tertiary education are unable
to fund their studies due to the high costs, which too has sparked violent
protests across the country. Our universities are grappling with the vexing
problem of providing a quality education that is relevant and authentic to the
African context, and not a continuation of a European model steeped in a
colonialist past. With the calls for decolonisation comes the further issue of
finding an ethic and a moral system that is authentically African. Modern young
Africans of all races are no longer satisfied with adopting a moral ethic that
is wholly derived from a European context and simply applied here.
Soldiers are a product of our society and are
exposed to the current issues and trends in our society. Soldiers form their
own moral opinions and attitudes in the context of our societal moral milieu.
THE
PAST
However, the present moral health of the nation must
be linked to, and dictates that attention be paid to our pre-democracy past.
The apartheid system had as its basis the immoral ideology of racial
superiority, which was enforced violently with oppressive legislation,
structures and action by the State that systematically dehumanised
“non-whites.” Family units were torn apart by laws that created hostels of men
mostly from rural areas to work as cheap labour in the mines and other
industries. State facilities, structures and systems (especially the education
system) were markedly and intentionally inferior to those provided for the
white minority. The black majority was denied ownership of land, and black
ghettos (locations) were created on the peripheries of all towns and cities. Those
of the black majority who lived on land in whites-only areas were removed
violently from that land and dispossessed without compensation (a phenomenon
that had started with colonialism). Economic inequality was stark, with the
vast majority of the wealth of the nation in the hands of a small white
minority. State oppression and violence was met with resistance, defiance and
violence. The apartheid state retaliated with even more violence: arrests,
imprisonments, banning orders and executions were the order of the day. All of
the above factors created a fertile ground for the breakdown of morality in
society as a whole.
During colonialism and apartheid, the black majority was
denied ownership of land, denied meaningful participation in political decision
making and denied freedom of movement. People were relegated to living in
ghettos and were given an education that equipped them to become servants and
labourers. The relationship of the majority to the State was defiant and
adversarial. The law and the instruments of the law at the time could not be
respected as they were immoral. It is no wonder then that today we have a
problem of lawlessness and disrespect for authority. In the past protests
against the state unleashed a violent response from the police, whether the
demonstrations were peaceful or not. It is no wonder then that today protests
inevitably turn violent, either by the police or the demonstrators. In the
past, people felt that to burn a state building or not to pay for services was
justified as those structures and services were instruments of an unjust regime
and for which they had no ownership. It is no wonder then that today schools,
clinics and libraries are burnt and utility accounts are not paid. In the past,
the relationship of whites to blacks was one of master and servant, where
whites regarded themselves as inherently superior to blacks on the basis of the
colour of their skins. It is no wonder then that today racist attitudes and
behaviours persist
Thus, any attempt at moral regeneration in the
present must take the past into account. Ignoring the past will be tantamount
to treating the symptoms and not the cause.
THE
WAY FORWARD
The Chaplains
Service is ideally placed to develop and to facilitate a moral regeneration program
for the SANDF. The Chaplains Service has as one of its primary mandates to
render ethical and moral support to members of the Department of Defence and
their dependants. Chaplains are trained to reflect theologically on the ethical
and moral state of affairs of the organisation and its members. Chaplains have
the status and the credibility within the organisation to develop and to
present a moral regeneration program that is authentic and which will make a positive
contribution to the organisation and by extension to the country. Furthermore,
chaplains are themselves products of churches that have been able to reflect
upon and deal with (some churches more adequately then others) their own
theological and ecclesiological colonial history
The following
process is suggested as a starting point to create a Moral Regeneration Program
for the SANDF.
The first step
would be to develop a strategic partnership with the MRM, to share resources
and to tap into the work that has already been done in the area. It makes no
sense for us to duplicate the work that has already been done or to develop a
program in isolation that does not take the work that has already been done
into account. Ultimately, a Memorandum of Understanding or an equivalent
document must be developed to formalise the co-operation between the SANDF
represented by the Chaplains Service and the MRM. I am convinced that the MRM
would welcome enquiries and overtures from the Chaplains Service on this
matter.
Secondly, it is
suggested that the Chaplains Service facilitates a process within the
organisation similar to and akin to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
(TRC) (see http://www.justice.gov.za/trc/ for more details). The SADF never played any
meaningful role in the TRC and we have only heard of isolated cases, e.g. that
of Dr. Wouter Basson, that were mentioned in the TRC. There has never been a
process within the SANDF where former liberation forces soldiers, former TVBC
soldiers and former SADF soldiers have told their stories in a way that would
bring meaningful healing and reconciliation. Many soldiers in the SANDF,
especially in the Reserve Force, have never had the opportunity for meaningful
engagement with members who fought on the “other side.” Facilitating this is a
natural role for chaplains to play as they are trained in and for
reconciliation both between God and human beings and amongst human beings
themselves. Chaplains could help to facilitate not only forgiveness and
reconciliation but also the process of restitution where necessary. Restitution
may not only be at the level of the individual person, but may also occur at an
organisational level where the organisation itself may need to, for instance,
engage with communities that were dispossessed of their land by the military. The
TRC had a legal mandate to conduct its work, which the Chaplains Service will
not have. It is suggested that we call the process something like, “Looking
Back to take us Forward.” There would need to be significant buy-in from the
command structures of the SANDF and there would definitely need to be
ministerial approval. While healing and reconciliation would be the primary
goal of this exercise, the ultimate goal would be to develop a new moral ethic
for the SANDF that has significant participation and buy-in across all structures
and rank groups.
Thirdly, linked
to the above, it is important that younger soldiers be exposed to the process,
as it is they who will lead our organisation in the future. There will need to
be a program of education within the organisation that will expose and educate
all soldiers in the full-time and part-time components on the history of our
organisation and on the process that brought us to where we are today. Chaplains
have the advantage of being able to speak from the perspective of churches that
have engaged with and dealt with our political history in a manner that has
grappled with colonialism and which recognised apartheid as evil (even though
some churches have only done so recently). Linked to this is the necessity to
educate soldiers on the Constitution and its institutions that are the product
of our society engaging with the past and looking forward to the creation of a
democratic and just society. This process however, cannot be the sole preserve
of the Chaplains Service as it will have to be implemented in all training
institutions as an integral part of all curricula.
Fourthly, chaplains
would need to develop a moral regeneration program as a culmination of the
three points above. This program must be developed after significant and
meaningful participation from soldiers from the full-time and part-time
components and across all rank groups. The Code of Conduct must be revisited
and possibly revised to reflect the process that has unfurled during the
development of the program. The program will need to be written and developed
in much the same way that the CHATSEC program was written and developed, i.e.
with a pilot program, a training manual, facilitation manual and a resource
manual. The program will need to be developed so that it addresses soldiers at
the various stages of their careers, from recruits right through to top
management.
CONCLUSION
Now more than
ever before in our young democracy, the need for a moral regeneration program
is necessary and critical. The Chaplains Service must grasp the opportunity to
develop such a program within the SANDF with both hands and embrace it as a
Divine imperative. The Program must be developed as a result of a process of
looking back to the past to find healing and then looking forward to the
development of a moral ethic that is authentic, has credibility and which can
shine as a beacon of hope to society. This is the Kairos moment for the Chaplains Service and the SANDF: may God give
us the hope, courage and fortitude to bring it to fruition.
CHAPLAIN ANDREW TREU
