Rank and file: Sexual violence cases usually involve a perpetrator of a higher rank, the ministerial report into gender violence has found, but rape culture is found in all parts of the military. (Michele Spatari/AFP)
Sex for jobs, payment to keep victims quiet, HIV and pregnancy after sex with superiors amid a culture that says, “Men have needs” or “Don’t ruin his career”. This is what being a woman in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) can be like.
In 2016 between 12% and 20% of women included in a ministerial task team (MTT) investigation reported they were sexually harassed during deployments.
From 2017-18 to 2018-19, there was a 30% increase (15 to 21 per year) in new cases of sexual misconduct before the military courts.
The task team’s findings come after a string of serious complaints of sexual exploitation and abuse by soldiers and generals alike in the SANDF. The long-awaited report was launched on International Women’s Day and presented a thorough but bleak picture of the working environment women face in the SANDF.
The most damning findings indicate that perpetrators ranged from junior soldiers to a military judge. One alleged victim was mysteriously shot and killed after reporting a rape case against an instructor at the South African Army in Potchefstroom.
A captain at the Military Academy in Saldanha died — allegedly by suicide — after a case of being drugged and raped by one or more of her colleagues was reported. The complainant was threatened by her commanding officer when she respected the victim’s wish for confidentiality. The complainant was then transferred while the military ombud and the chaplain general dealt with the case. No steps have been taken against the commanding officer.
Last year the Mail & Guardian reported on this case as well as on the fact that the SANDF top brass has been sitting on alarming reports of a possible serial rapist attacking women at one of its bases in the Western Cape.
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“The non-punishment of sexual transgressions in the department of defence (DOD) contradicts the policies and statements on zero tolerance and perpetuates a sexualised culture. Perpetrators rely on the fact that the command and control structure intimidates their victims and that they will therefore be reluctant to come forward,” reads another of the findings.
“The combination of hyper-masculinity, a sexually charged culture, and an inappropriate exercise of power will lead to a climate in which work relationships become sexualised. Because sexual harassment and assault tend to happen between ranks where there is power asymmetry, rank can be used by some as a free pass to behave inappropriately towards women in junior ranks.”
The MTT was established in December 2019 after Minister of Defence Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula received numerous complaints from victims of abuse from superiors.
The rapes, kidnapping and victim-blaming inside the SANDF
The team established a 24/7 hotline for victims and complainants, enabling the creation of a horrifying timeline of abuses that sometimes spanned years, with the perpetrators simply not prosecuted.
Several of the most recent cases were referred to the South African Police Services for further investigation and prosecution — especially in the instances of rape, statutory rape or sexual assault.
Nine cases of rape were among the 49 most serious complaints received on the hotline. In at least one instance, it took the intervention of Mapisa-Nqakula to suspend a colonel at the joint operations headquarters in Pretoria. Numerous allegations of sexual harassment were reported to the military police but the officer continued to victimise the complainants. The cases against him were referred to the National Prosecuting Authority for prosecution in a civilian court.
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In another case, a victim who was being sexually abused by an Army brigadier general and who had become pregnant requested a transfer to another province to escape the abuse. Her need for maintenance was used as leverage for further abuse. The MTT arranged for counselling for the victim.
Of the reported cases, 21 sexual misconduct cases were brought forward and 15 finalised, with members dismissed from the SANDF.
At least half of the reported cases happened at SANDF training institutions across the country and in most cases, the perpetrators were instructors. The Military Academy in Saldanha is one of the “hotspots”.
In one instance, a student was allegedly attacked in her room. When she reported the matter to the chief instructor, she was blamed for fighting back.
In a particularly horrifying incident dating from May 2019 at the Air Force Base in Makhado in Limpopo, a victim was found bound to a chair with a sock stuffed in her mouth at a colonel’s house on the base. The victim only remembered drinking coffee, feeling dizzy and passing out.
The forensic investigation indicated that she was raped, but DNA results have not yet been released. After the MTT intervened, the case was referred to the SAPS.
Now applicants started their application process by offering sexual favours
In 2019 the M&G established that at least 41 sex-related cases were reported in the 18 months prior. This, along with other reports of sexual misconduct, exploitation and assault levelled against SANDF peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) further prompted Mapisa-Nqakula that urgent intervention was necessary.
In most local cases, the women were young (between 18 and 30 years old) and needed their jobs. According to the report, specifically the more vulnerable Reserve Force members, who are called up for only certain periods of duty, were in many cases expected to perform sexual favours — or not be called up again.
This practice has become so normalised that applicants often start their application process by offering sexual favours in return for being considered.
“There were pockets of deviant behaviour that subjected women in the Defence Force to oppressive and unjust sexual violations and harassment, posing a serious risk to the credibility of a state institution and indeed the country. Those who had been violated and undermined were being destroyed; their self-worth and creativity devalued by those sexually abusing them,” says Thoko Mpumlwana, the chair of the MTT.
Sexual abuse on peacekeeping missions
The complaints in the DRC has become a bone of contention within UN peacekeeping missions, with the UN trying to stamp out such transgressions, while South African soldiers are not brought to book due to legal wrangling. South African peacekeepers seemed to be exploiting Congolese women — and sometimes minors — with apparent impunity.
The issue of paternity emerged in the DRC where, of 35 cases brought to the MTT’s attention, 28 included a paternity claim. In most cases, the issue of paternity and the father’s ensuing responsibility to maintain his child was not dealt with.
Despite these complaints, the SANDF continued to deploy soldiers to the same area repeatedly, creating an environment conducive to soldiers establishing a “second family”. No central register exists to keep track of “problem soldiers”.
The report notes that the government must bear some responsibility for the actions of the peacekeepers it deployed.
The task team advises that children of these rapes or unions should have the right to citizenship and their births registered as South African citizens.
“The South African government, much the same as it does for children in South Africa, must ensure that fathers own up to their child-care responsibility by paying maintenance.”
Tracking the timeline of abuses
Mpumlwana’s team consisted of Professor Cheryl Hendricks, the Reverend Dr Mongezi Guma, Major General (retired) Thandiwe Nodola and Britta Rotmann. They all have experience in gender equality and research or law.
The case summaries in the report make it clear young women often became victims while deployed in remote areas, where they had little recourse to official complaints or protection.
The details of many of the incidents are horrifying. In an incident at the Army unit at Fort Ikapa military base in Goodwood, Cape Town, a soldier reported to her second-in-command that she was going to see a gynaecologist. The perpetrator touching her genitals, asking if “everything is okay down there”.
It was subsequently recommended that the perpetrator be suspended pending the investigation, but this did not happen, and the military court case was postponed twice.
Inside why this happens
The SANDF’s internal legal system allows it to punish perpetrators to a fine of not more than R6 000 or a demotion in rank. This is among the MTT’s most serious areas of concern. The military court system was designed to hear cases of ill-discipline or misconduct, but not specifically sexual transgressions.
“Neither prosecutors nor military police nor judicial officers are formally trained in dealing with cases of sexual misconduct. The DOD military justice system is not currently equipped to deal with sexual misconduct cases. This includes an outdated code from the 1957 Defence Act regarding appropriate sentences,” the report finds.
The team noted the department often did not discipline its employees, waiting instead for findings from outside courts. This led to a bizarre situation where an employer who had observed an assault in the work environment had to await the outcome of a criminal case in the civilian courts before the employee could be disciplined.
The planned Military Discipline Bill would have replaced both the Defence Act of 1957 and the Military Discipline Supplementary Measures Act of 1999. This new Act would have dealt comprehensively with many of the issues identified and present the DOD with legislation that helps rather than hinders its objectives. It has, however, been withdrawn because of legal shortcomings.
The MTT recommends that the SANDF’s legal division urgently finds the resources for a dedicated team to redraft the Act and address the shortcomings identified in its report.
The team makes several recommendations to rectify the current sorry state of affairs, among which a centralised register of sexual offenders. Such a system should also be connected to the justice system to keep track of military offenders’ cases in civilian courts. The same system should also keep track of grievances and their progress.
Most importantly, SANDF must, within a year, create a civilian-led victim empowerment and support sexual misconduct centre (SMC) outside of the military chain of command. The SMC will report directly to the office of the minister. The temporary hotline must be based in the same centre and manned 24/7.
Another recommendation is to finalise a policy on sexual exploitation and abuse for the SANDF specifically.
How successful the report’s implementation is will depend on the commitment of the senior leadership of the SANDF, and this does not inspire confidence.
“The leadership must publicly acknowledge that there is a problem of sexual misconduct in the DOD. The leadership must indicate its regret that the DOD has become unsafe for victims to report sexual misconduct. The leadership must collectively communicate their disappointment to members of the DOD and immediately commit to rooting out this behaviour,” concludes the MTT report.
“The standard you walk past is the standard you accept.”
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