Scrapping commandos 'stupid'

2005-02-03 09:50

Erika Gibson

Pretoria - Scrapping commandos was "a stupid idea that is now being implemented".

Seventeen commandoes must close down by the end of March this year, while 55 others have to cease operations during the next financial year.

However, police are not yet ready to entirely take over the task of rural security from the defence force, which is going to leave a vacuum, said Helmoed Romer-Heitman of Jane's Defence Weekly to the news that the Nelspruit commando would be one of the 17 commandos to close down soon.

Pieter Groenewald of the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) said on Wednesday this step would leave between 15 000 and 16 000 mainly black commando members unemployed in the near future.

"This is an added threat to rural safety and security," Groenewald said.

Romer-Heitman said the police's sector policing units, which are to fill the void, were not ready to take over from the commandos.

"?That will mean that farmers in particular would have to organise themselves and look after their own safety. One can expect stock theft and crime to increase where the commandos are no longer present."

The Nelspruit commando is one of the most active units in the defence force. In virtually all farm attacks in their area during the past year, these commando members were the first at the scene of the crime and in many cases they ensured the arrest of the suspects.

The defence force did not have a schedule of the closure of commandos available this week. A joint task team, made up of members of the police and defence force, was currently visiting several areas in the country to finalise the closure of the units.

Henri Boshoff of the Institute for Security Studies said the department of defence gave assurances two years ago when the plans were announced that no commandos would be closed down until there was a system to replace them.

Dormant units, which existed in name only for some time, would be closed first and the most active ones only in 2007.

The down-scaling of the defence force's involvement nationally does not only involve closing down the commandos, but also group headquarters.

A tactical headquarters in each province will take over the work of these group headquarters.

The tactical office will mainly be involved in border policing, assistance during disasters and protection of national strategic points.

"Sector policing does not make provision for protecting house and home or for quick response times. The question is: who will take over these roles?" Boshoff asked.

- Beeld