The Defence Review, which is due to be finalised this year, is likely to affirm the current posture, asserting that the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) should play an active role in supporting peace and stability across the African continent.

This stance, which is widely accepted, is in fact a material evolution from the 1998 review, which envisaged only a modest peace-support role for the SANDF. It is also a departure from the 1996 White Paper, which argued that the prevention and management of regional conflicts was “primarily a political and not a military matter”.

The draft review, which was published last year, is more in line with the current reality, which has seen South African soldiers deployed in a number of African countries.

It notes that South Africa will, in the appropriate circumstances, make elements of its defence force available to peace-support operations of the United Nations and the African Union (AU). The country is also willing to employ armed force to assist countries faced with aggression, as well as conduct constabulary operations that have been agreed upon multilaterally.

Whether or not the deployment of military resources in the Central African Republic – apparently premised on a bilateral defence corporation agreement and AU Peace and Security Council resolutions – was fully aligned with that framework remains unclear.

What is more certain, though, is that the events of March 24, which resulted in South Africa’s worst combat losses since the advent of democracy, will heighten the attention given to the review, as well as to the principles that should inform future African engagements.

Such attention is long overdue, as the reasons for South Africa’s military deployments have never been well communicated, or understood. As a result, too few informed questions have been posed about the value of the SANDF’s African engagements and even fewer about whether our soldiers are adequately equipped for the task.

The draft review attempts to close some of the gaps by arguing that the promotion of peace and stability in the region and on the continent “is a key component of South Africa’s foreign policy”. It has also been argued, but not in the review, that South Africa’s own development trajectory could be undermined by war and instability elsewhere in Africa. In other words, such conflicts pose a direct and indirect threat to South Africa’s national interest.

Besides establishing a Southern African Development Community Standby Force, the review suggests that the SANDF be prepared to participate in “two medium-scale continuous international deployments”.

There should be vigorous debate on whether such a framework is desirable. But should it be agreed, appropriate procurement programmes will be required to support the SANDF in playing such a role – programmes that will have to be managed transparently and meticulously to avoid the toxic fallout that has been associated with the now notorious ‘Arms Deal’.