Holism and holistic

The study examined the extent to which organisational climate, job satisfaction, and leadership styles influences organisational commitment among South African soldiers. Study participants were 150 military personnel (41% females, 32% privates, 35% Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs), age range 24 to 64). Participants completed measures of organisational climate, job satisfaction, leadership styles, and organisational commitment. Data were descriptively summarised and with multiple regression analysis utilised to predict organisational commitment from job satisfaction, leadership styles, and organisational climate. The results revealed a positive significant relationship between organisational climate, job satisfaction, and organisational commitment. Moderate positive correlations were observed between laissez-faire, transformational, and transactional leadership styles and organisational commitment. Results from multiple regression found organisational climate to be the only predictor of organisational commitment and not job satisfaction.

Bosbefok and Koevoet: the border war in Namibia and Angola in South African soldiers’ memory

Perla Siedle Gibson, known as ‘The Lady in White’, was an upper-class woman from Durban, who in the Second World War became famous for appearing in the city’s harbour and singing to the numerous British and South African soldiers and sailors who passed through. The article shows how Gibson’s activities illuminate several aspects of South Africa’s, and especially Natal’s, role in the war. The strategic situation in the period 1940–3 made South African ports crucial to the British campaigns in North Africa and East Asia. The article demonstrates that women’s volunteerism in Durban played a key part in sustaining military morale in this period, and thereby contributes to a gendered reading of the politics of the war. It also emphasises the specificity of Natal settler loyalism in framing the activities of Gibson and her co-workers: white Natalians had a particularly strong sense of connection to Britain, and an ambivalent relationship to the South African state. Finally, the article points out how racial tensions were building in this period, in ways which would lead to internal crisis in the country and international isolation by the 1960s. This would ultimately undermine the Natal-British identity for which Gibson stood.

The Union Defence Force (UDF), by virtue of its structure and operation, exercised much greater control over those who were involved in it than other organizations in South Africa. This in itself is not unusual, but it immediately acquires additional significance in the context of a racially divided country. The authorities wielding power over the 76,000 black soldiers who joined the UDF during the Second World War were in the service of a state that adhered to a specific repressive racial policy; therefore, some of the measures were clearly aimed at furthering the ends of this policy. Hence, the reasons for control cannot only be traced to the military nature and needs of the UDF alone but must be sought in the racial values and policies prevalent in the South African society of the 1940s. After all, the UDF reflected the society of which it was a part. Thus the distinction between the exercise of formal measures to maintain military order on the one hand, and the application of these measures for non-military purposes-i.e., to enforce the state's race policies-on the other, forms a focal point throughout.

Sights, Sounds, Memories: South African Soldier Experiences of the Second World War , by Ian van der Waag (ed.)

This chapter seeks to evaluate the impact of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) on warfare in general and more specifically on the South African soldier to elicit a suitable response from the military psychology domain. The 4IRis about cyber-physical systems where man and machine are integrated, blurring the boundaries between the real and virtual world. Some of the core elements are robotics, advanced connectivity, autonomous vehicles, neurotechnology, quantum computing, 3D printing, artificial intelligence and big data. The use of new and old technologies in new ways increases the duration and operational tempo beyond the biological limitations of the human mind and body. The distinction between humans and machines becomes diffuse and in some instances, automated machines will challenge each other on the battlefield and make decisions without human interference. The 4IR is a “game-changer” that the South African National Defense Force cannot avoid, despite budget constraints. It affects military hardware, organizational structures and the human footprint in the organization. Military psychologists will have to focus on various activities to ensure optimally functioning soldiers for an efficient and capable future force. This chapter ends with suggestions on what the South African National Defence Force's Directorate Psychology must do to support its clients in the 4IR.

In 1998 following a bitterly contested election in Lesotho, post-apartheid South Africa deployed its army to ostensibly restore peace within the tiny neighbouring country. Yet the intervention did not proceed smoothly, and the resulting public backlash has long tainted the operation. The analysis from academia on the operation has been no less critical. However, the longer period of stabilisation which followed the intervention has not yet been examined to date, which this article attempts to rectify. It will show that while a peace of sorts was restored to the nation, the ill-conduct of some South African soldiers, coupled with the limited mandate emplaced upon the South African army to address crime and the deeper political issues within Lesotho, had left a bitter aftertaste amongst some Basotho towards the intervention.

The title of this book of General Jannie Geldenhuys he explains in his ultimate paragraph. Napoleon, when asked on an occasion, which soldiers were the best, replied : "Those who are victorious" - Die wat wen. Jannie Geldenhuys served during his last decade in the South African Defence Force as Chief of the Army and thereafter as Chief of the SADF. During those years he certainly exercised command over victorious South African soldiers, soldiers (or rather servicemen) who maintianed the record of those who served in the two World Wars of this 20th Century.