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Sand River Base
Kruger National Park1 April 2013
SA National Defence Union
Pretoria
Sir/Madam,
RESIGNATION
SANDU MEMBERSHIP
I hereby wish to
tender my resignation with immediate effect as a member of the SA
National Defence Union. I do so with deep regret and after much
thought and reflection on the matter.
I
joined SANDU circa
2003 for a few reasons. The first reason was selfish. At the time I
felt uncertain of my own future in the SANDF and thought it would be
a good idea to have some kind of backup should I need it. The other
reason I joined is that I supported the idea of having unions in the
SANDF. Unions had played a major role in our transition to democracy
and I felt (as I still do) that they have an important role to play
in helping to shape our young democracy. I also joined out of a
genuine concern for the terrible conditions under which soldiers are
asked to do their work and where they are expected to live. I was and
still am concerned at how the underfunding of the Defence Force has
eroded our capabilities and has had a profoundly negative impact on
morale. I am at the front line when it comes to how badly people are
off in the SANDF. I see how people struggle to make ends meet and I
see how they struggle at work with woefully inadequate and outdated
resources. I see how soldiers are expected to live in dilapidated and
unhygienic barracks. I see how families are expected to live in
houses that are in a terrible state of neglect and disrepair. I see
how commanding officers struggle to fulfil their duties and how they
struggle to motivate their members with the few resources they have
at their disposal. I have seen how dedicated colleagues and fellow
professionals in the SANDF have become demotivated and have left for
the private sector. The political organisation to which I belong
supported my constitutional right to belong to the union of my choice
and I have never felt a conflict of interest between my membership of
the union and my membership of the political party. I defended SANDU
after the 2009 Union Buildings incident as I felt the plight of
soldiers had at long last been brought into the public domain. I was
prepared to risk my career for SANDU when in 2009 we chaplains were
asked to resign our membership, I refused and defended my right to
belong to a union.
I expect my union to be fighting on my behalf and on the behalf of
our soldiers on a number of issues. I expect my union to be fighting
for better working conditions, better equipment, better housing and
better benefits. I expect my union to be keeping the plight of
soldiers in the public domain in such a way that sympathy not
antipathy is evoked. I expect my union to be at the forefront
lobbying for a bigger slice of the GDP. I expect my union to be vocal
when the defence budget shrinks and conditions worsen for soldiers. I
expect my union to be highlighting the effects of the underfunding of
the SANDF. I expect my union to be engaging in vigorous debate with
those who oppose defence spending. I expect my union to be lobbying
members of the Portfolio Committee on Defence and other influential
members of parliament across party political platforms. I expect my
union to be engaging with the Minister and the Secretary of Defence,
lobbying on behalf of soldiers. I expect my union to be in discussion
with the office of the Military Ombudsman to help define roles and
perhaps even to forge some kind of partnership. I expect my union to
be engaging at an academic level with institutions, think-tanks and
universities where these matters are discussed and researched. I
expect my union to be presenting papers at academic colloquia and
submitting papers to academic journals. I expect my union to be
writing articles in newspapers and online forums, specifically to
debate defence spending, the state of equipment and the service
conditions of soldiers. I expect my union to present a detailed and
comprehensive submission on the latest Defence Review. I expect my
union to be involved when salaries and benefits are negotiated,
fighting on behalf of soldiers. I expect my union to be fighting the
insidious practice of linking rank to salary. I expect my union to be
fighting on behalf of soldiers who have been abused or disadvantaged
by their superiors. Most of all I expect my union to be consulting
the rank and file members of SANDU on the issues which affect them.
Sadly on most of the above issues SANDU seems to be absent. I am only
aware of SANDU when it comes to salary negotiations and occasionally
when the union takes up the cudgels on behalf of a soldier who has
suffered some kind of injustice. It is a role I have appreciated
SANDU playing and I applaud its victories. I do however expect a lot
more and find myself in the position where to me SANDU seems to be
lacking. I am not aware of SANDU having taken a position on Defence
spending, neither am I aware of its involvement in any debate on the
matter. I am not aware of the union having taken the matter of the
portion of GDP to be spent on Defence into the public domain for
debate or even for information. The union seems to have taken a
combative and alienating approach to the Portfolio Committee. A
similar approach seems to have been taken with the Minister and the
Secretary for Defence. I am not aware of any academic submission by
the union, nor am I aware of its participation in any discourse at
that level. I am not aware of any submission to the Defence Review. I
am not aware of the union having consulted its members on the issues
which affect them. I have never met my shop steward nor have I ever
been invited to attend a union meeting. Notwithstanding all the
above, I was still prepared to retain my membership of the union
until the recent tragic events in the CAR unfolded.
It is SANDU's reaction to and the way in which it has dealt with the
tragic events in the CAR that now leave me with no other option but
to resign my membership. We had soldiers in the CAR under SANDF
command as negotiated with the CAR government at that time. Our
soldiers were attacked and they fought well and they fought bravely.
The first public reaction from the union was on Twitter with the
secretary's comments, “Zuma this is on you.” The next reaction
was a statement calling for the immediate withdrawal of our soldiers
from the CAR. I was disturbed and my disquiet began. There was no
acknowledgement of the loss of human life nor was any attempt made to
sympathise with those who had lost loved ones. There was no attempt
by SANDU, as far as I am aware, to assist the dependants of those who
had died or to highlight their plight with regard to the benefits
they will receive. This to me is deeply disrespectful of those who
have died. The outburst against the Commander in Chief was followed
by another on Twitter against the CSANDF with a call for his
resignation. It seems to me the union has forgotten that soldiers are
under command and pledge their allegiance to their superiors. In my
interaction with soldiers on the ground both the Commander in Chief
and the CSANDF are held in very high esteem. One of my soldiers (who
is a SANDU member) described the union as having become “rude”
which indicates to me a dissonance between the union and its rank and
file members. The calls for the withdrawal of soldiers from the CAR
reflects a similar dissonance between the union and its members. The
union certainly does not reflect my views on the CAR matter and it
did not have a mandate from its members to make such statements. My
experience of soldiers on the ground is an overwhelming support for
staying in the CAR. A number of soldiers immediately made themselves
available for deployment to the CAR, including me. The call for a
withdrawal of soldiers also to my mind seems to be an incitement to
mutiny, perhaps not in the legal sense but it certainly feels that
way. I cannot help but get the feeling that the union is using the
publicity gained for promoting personal political views and no longer
reflects the views of its members.
The last straw for me was the decision to sue the SANDF over the
remarks expressed by its spokesman concerning SANDU and SANDU's
reaction to his statement on 27 March. I cannot allow my union
subscription to be used for spurious litigation. The SANDF statement
may be regarded as clumsy and inarticulate, but the perception of
SANDU as being anti transformation and supportive of an old order
agenda in the SANDF must be taken very seriously by the union. That
perception may have some validity when the fact is that those who are
vociferous in their opposition today to the SANDF were silent in the
past when it came to the SADF. Similarly their voices were silent
when there was widespread resistance to transformation by old SADF
members after the SANDF was formed in 1995. I will illustrate this
with some of my own experiences. I was designated for conscription
into the SADF at the age of 16. While a student at Wits University I
joined the End Conscription Campaign as I viewed the apartheid
government of the day as illegitimate and could not see myself
fighting for it. After the ECC was banned there was no other voice in
the country that supported us. To the white community we were an
anathema and to the black community our issue was small and
insignificant compared to the scale of the struggle against
apartheid. When eventually at the age of 28 I was forced through
various circumstances to report for National Service, there was no
voice inside or outside the SADF except my church, to support me and
others in a similar position. When I refused to carry a weapon and
was made to drill with a broomstick handle, the only support I had
was from my church. When I joined the SANDF in 1996 I found myself
having to do battle with those who resisted change and who were anti
transformation. Once again I found myself isolated and alone. The
point is that those who are vociferous in their opposition today were
silent in the past, and however one looks at it, it casts aspersions
on their present motives and to a large extent invalidates or even
negates their present activism.
I think too that SANDU has missed some important opportunities when
it comes to the CAR events. There was an opportunity by SANDU to
partner with the SANDF to highlight the state of our equipment and
the cumulative effects of Defence underfunding. There was an
opportunity to highlight how badly off dependants are after the death
of a member in service. There was an opportunity for the union to
show love and compassion, but that too was missed.
I do not wish my resignation to be viewed as a personal attack on any
member of SANDU staff. Neither do I wish to alienate myself from any
SANDU staff member at a personal level. Should the circumstances
change I would consider rejoining the union. For now however, my
decision to resign remains steadfast. I shall be informing my Human
Resources functionary accordingly so that the necessary
administrative actions can be taken.
Yours faithfully,
CHAPLAIN A.J.
TREU
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LINKS
TO SANDU STATEMENTS:
24
March: http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1rjdbc4
27
March: http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1rjfd1d
SANDU TWITTER FEED:
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