Mozambique: a war we cannot afford

IT IS UNLIKELY you would have heard the name Corporal Tebogo Radebe. But remember him because he was the first casualty in our war against Islamic militants in Mozambique.

In July, President Cyril Ramaphosa authorised the deployment of South African soldiers to the province of Cabo Delgado, situated in the northernmost part of that country.

The South African troops formed part of a Southern African Development Community force that aims to prevent the militants from terrorising the local community and establishing an Islamic state in the north of Mozambique.

The militants go by the name Ansar al-Sunna Wa Jamma or “al-Shabaab”. It is made up mainly of locals, but in recent months they have attracted fighters from Tanzania and Somalia.

Radebe, who was 31 years old, was killed in an ambush on December 20 near a village called Chai.

As a member of our special forces, he was among the best of the best in our national defence force.

His death has brought home the reality that our country is at war. But it also raised the question of whether or not this is a war South Africa can afford to fight.

In the last decade, our government has not effectively used the money it collected in taxes. Furthermore, it has spent and continues to spend more than it collects and has too many people on its payroll. As a result, instead of maintaining and improving infrastructure, we pay billions on debt repayments and salaries.

When Radebe and his fellow troops came under fire, you would have thought they would have been able to call upon adequate resources for protection.

This would have included air support in the form of the Gripen fighter plane, one of the most advanced combat aircraft in southern Africa, a Hawk jet or even a Rooivalk attack helicopter.

But it was not to be, because South Africa does not have the money needed to maintain and fly these aircraft.

We also do not have the money to build a new infantry fighting vehicle. We have plans to develop one, but the project is years behind schedule, and right now, there is simply no money for it. As a result, our soldiers are using the Ratel infantry fighting vehicle, which is more than 40 years old.

Our government must realise that war is neither pretty nor cheap. It is not like the fisticuffs that occasionally get thrown in Parliament or the service delivery protests we see around the country.

On the battlefield, there is only one outcome for a soldier who does not have the right resources, and that is death.

If our government does not change its mindset, we are going to lose more lives in Mozambique.