THE CHIEF OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARMY’S WELCOMING NOTE

Chief of the South African Army.

Lieutenant General Solly Shoke

I welcome you to the second SA Army Seminar 21.  A special word of welcome to all the guest speakers and military representatives who travelled far to take part in this seminar. The aim of this seminar is to improve our understanding of the contemporary and future security challenges in Africa through a number of presentations by prominent academics, military speakers, as well as government officials from South Africa, the United Kingdom, Rwanda, Ghana, Denmark, Zimbabwe, Canada, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Australia, Singapore and Germany. This will enable us to orientate ourselves towards preparing the SA Army to be ready to face these challenges. Therefore the theme of this seminar is “An SA Army Relevant and Ready for Future Security Challenges in Africa.”  

The African continent, and sub-Saharan Africa in particular, has received higher priority on the security agendas of strong nations and powers the last few years. Africa has grown in importance, not only from a geo-strategic and natural resource perspective, but also as a result of real concerns in the international community about the vulnerability of African states to crises.  Intrastate conflict is a particular concern. The African Union (AU) since its inception has created several mechanisms for conflict prevention, intervention, peace-building and post conflict reconstruction. Although continental early-warning systems and other mechanisms exist to prevent political tensions from erupting, armed conflicts still occur.  It is up to us, the armed forces of Africa, including the SA Army, to prepare ourselves appropriately to enable the United Nations and the AU Peace and Security Council to conduct successful peace support operations (PSOs) on the continent.  

African armed forces, which are mostly infantry-based, face many challenges with PSOs on the continent:   outdated prime mission equipment, the limited ability to project, sustain and move forces, as well as limited C⁴I³RS capabilities (integrated command and control, communications, computers, information, intelligence, infrastructure, reconnaissance and surveillance), to mention a few.  During Seminar 21 we will get a broader and more in-depth understanding of these challenges that African armed forces and the SA Army in particular face and our guest speakers will provide us with pointers to prepare for the future.  These inputs will be used to update the SA Army’s long-term strategy. 

I wish to thank our strategic partner, the Institute for Security Studies, for going the extra mile in supporting us to present this seminar and acting as a soundboard for what the SA Army envisions.  I also want to thank the members of other departments, the PDSC and representatives of the SANDF’s other services and divisions for their presence at this seminar.  The SA Army is convinced that a joint, interdepartmental and multinational (JIM) approach to all future military efforts will largely determine overall success.  We count on you to support us with Vision 2020. 

I wish you an enjoyable seminar, and for those who are visitors to our country, may you enjoy what our beautiful country has to offer.

Thank you.