AfriForum warns against militarisation of disaster management amid military’s own crisis

The current attempt to involve the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) more deeply in disaster management is nothing more than a desperate attempt to conceal the failures of the National Disaster Management Centre and provincial disaster management structures, says AfriForum. This follows reports that the National Disaster Management Centre increasingly wants to utilise the military as part of the state’s disaster management strategy, while the military itself is currently under severe pressure and seemingly unable to provide even its own deployed soldiers with basic humane living conditions.

AfriForum’s concern follows several reports in which members of Parliament criticised the military’s underfunding, mismanagement and leadership failures, as well as reports about the dire conditions under which soldiers were deployed at Fort iKapa in the Western Cape. According to the reports, soldiers are being housed in a leaking aircraft hangar with insufficient toilets, no hot water, inadequate food and poor sanitation. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that the helicopter fleet of the South African Air Force, which is the air component of the military, is currently unable to operate due to fuel shortages and maintenance backlogs. Air support during disasters plays a critical role in rescue operations, medical evacuations, flood response, air transport and search-and-rescue operations, particularly in remote areas where a rapid response is essential. This effectively means that South Africa’s disaster response capability is already severely weakened at present.

“The military should not form part of national disaster management at all. The law is very clear that the military may only be called upon in a supporting capacity during a disaster. It is not the military’s function to take over or attempt to rescue the state’s failing disaster management systems,” says Tarien Cooks, Disaster Management Specialist at AfriForum.

In terms of Section 15(2)(aA) of the Disaster Management Act, the military may only be called upon to support disaster management structures. The Act clearly places the primary responsibility for disaster management on the National Disaster Management Centre, provincial disaster management structures and municipal disaster management structures.

“Disaster management is a highly specialised field that requires proper training, infrastructure, logistics, coordination and accountability. Dividing these responsibilities across different state departments will only worsen the crisis,” says Cooks.

AfriForum further points out that the National Disaster Management Centre is currently not even properly fulfilling its existing responsibilities. Despite the severe floods that recently affected several provinces, no formal disaster declarations have been made, which means that critical funding for infrastructure repairs and emergency relief has not been made available. There is also no real accountability or decisive coordination from national level.

“The National Disaster Management Centre is currently merely classifying disasters without taking leadership. Instead of carrying out its constitutional and legal duties, it is now trying to use the military as a plaster on a system that is already collapsing,” adds Cooks.

AfriForum further emphasises that Section 200 of the Constitution, which deals with the military, clearly states that the primary purpose of the military is to defend and protect the Republic, its territorial integrity and its people. There is no provision in this legislation requiring the military to function as a full-time disaster management institution.

The organisation also warns that any further funds that may be channelled towards such programmes will likely simply become yet another example of state waste.

“The military is already struggling to properly manage a single deployment operation. Now the state wants the same institution to become involved in multiple disaster situations simultaneously. This is irresponsible and dangerous,” says Cooks.

AfriForum believes the focus should rather be on restoring provincial disaster management structures, properly implementing the Disaster Management Act and enforcing accountability at the national disaster management centre.

“Before even more responsibilities are imposed on the military, the National Disaster Management Centre must first ensure that the other eight provinces – apart from the Western Cape’s disaster management structures – are functioning at standard and that provinces are doing the work taxpayers are already paying for,” concludes Cooks.