Celebrating Women's
Month: Rise of Women in the SA Army
Article by Themba
Katsambe, Intern, SA Army Corporate
Communication
Photographs by Staff
Sergeant Chené Kruger, SA Army Corporate
Communication
The month of August is a time to celebrate
the success women have achieved, to highlight
and tackle the challenges and discrimination
still faced by South African women. The South
African National Defence Force has taken great
strides since 1994 in recruitment, training and
promoting female members. The Chief Director of
the SA Army Force Preparation Major General
Nontobeko Mpaxa and Staff Officer 1 Protocol to
Chief Army, Lieutenant Colonel Nolubalalo
Skritshi are testimonies of such milestones.
Major General N. Mpaxa is a role model to any
young aspiring woman serving in the SA Army.
They are huge shoes to fit into as the youth
tries to walk in her footsteps for guidance,
discipline and heroism. Being the first female
in the Infantry Formation to Command an Infantry
Battalion, the first female Commander of the
Army Support Base, the first Commandant at South
African Army Combat Training Centre, the first
woman to head up the South African Army’s
Intelligence Formation – there is much to adore
from the former Mkhonto we Sizwe ( MK ) veteran.
The young Lieutenant Colonel N. Skritshi is
honoured and privileged to have such an idol
around.
“The empowerment of women in general needs
one to be in a position of influence, a position
of decision-making and empowering women also
does not end with authority, it goes back to the
individuals as females. Are they ready to be
empowered?” asked the Major General on endowing
female members in the SA Army.
Major General Mpaxa added that gender equity
has improved post democracy, “at a lower
level, there is no problem in recruiting as
many females as possible”. However,
“discrimination is visible at command line, at
various boards where decisions are to be made,
where males move faster on high positions than
females”.
The Major General’s sentiments support the
statistics released by Parliamentary Monitoring
Group (2015) - “the total strength of the SA
National Defence Force members was 66 252, with
49 449 (75%) men and 16 753 (25%) women”. The
figure of 16 753 (25%) representation of women,
with 19% of women in combat and 31% in support
services, adding to 50% of the women”.
“The survey also was noted that women were
seriously under-represented at Senior Management
Staff (SMS) level, and there was also
under-representation of Africans at Colonel
level, and in fact although there were
significantly more Africans than Whites at
Military Skills Development System (MSDS) level
and private ranks, this trend was reversed the
higher up in the ranks. Women in the Combat
Corps were still at only 19%,” PMG.
Major General Mpaxa further stated that the
problem is when women lack representation, men
then speak on behalf of women. She made a
simple example of reprimanding women to dress
accordingly done by men, which would be more
respectful if the instruction came from a female
member.
Major General Mpaxa urged women to stop
undermining and negatively criticising other
female colleagues in higher ranks – “you find
that it is growing even among women themselves
that they would prefer to be led by a male
rather than a female”. The Major General
reminded the SA Army of the beauty in the
characteristic difference of women to their male
counterparts – “and people forget the caring
nature of women, the uniqueness of female –
females cannot tolerate for example, troops
without food, or troops on bare foot.”
“It is a fact that not all men climbing the
ladder have been proven in the battlefield, the
issue of combat capacity is brought up whenever
a female has to rise for instance from a
“One Star” and so forth. One does not
necessarily have to carry a rifle or a machine
gun; at the highest level all which is needed is
intellectual capital. This cannot go on forever,
in whose lifetime will females be on par with
males”, concluded the General.
Alongside Major General Mpaxa is another
rising star also based at SA Army Headquarters,
Staff Officer 1 Protocol to Chief Army,
Lieutenant Colonel Nolubalalo Portia Skritshi.
Just as ambitious and proud of the improvement
in women representation as her senior, “ Now
more women are put in positions where they are
Commanders, for example we have more female
Officer Commanding in our different units,
fighting units for that matter - Artillery
Regiment for instance”, she strutted.
Lieutenant Colonel Nolubalalo P. Skritshi did
her Basic Training at Army Gym and soon joined
Intelligence Corps. There she worked at
Intelligence Regiment as Team Leader, Troop
Commander and Squadrom Second In Charge. She
then worked at “School Tact Intelligence as an
Instructor before moving to Defense Intelligence
College as a Facilitator. She was deployed to
Burundi and Sudan.
Africa will conquer when the African women
rise – the calibre of the 20 000 women who
marched to Union buildings in protest of pass
laws are the characters that are needed today.
Any young South African woman has the
opportunity to become Winnie Mandela, Miriam
Makeba, Charlize Theron or Caster Semenya. When
the queens are happy, there is peace in the
kingdom.
Chief Director SA Army Force
Preparation,
Major General Nontobeko Mpaxa
|
Staff Officer 1 Protocol to Chief
Army,
Lieutenant Colonel Nolubalalo Skritshi
|
Chief Director of the SA Army Force
Preparation Major General Nontobeko
Mpaxa
|
Staff Officer 1 Protocol to Chief
Army,
Lieutenant Colonel Nolubalalo Skritshi
|
|