Soldiers should not be transferred on an emergency

Richard Moleofe | Friday January 27, 2017 15:57

For the 20 years of my service with BDF, 15 of those years were spent at BDF HQ where I served as a staff officer for the commander. I was particularly involved so much with welfare issue of soldiers and their families. My training on these issues was with the US Army, a military institution that treats welfare issue as seriously as they deserve to be.

At one point while serving at BDF HQ, the issue of transfers reached boiling point as officers and men became disgruntled with the way the staff movements were conducted. At the time Brigadier Albertus Scheffers was at the helm of the organisations personnel. This man was an officer and a half and he would never harm a fly. Through our advice, he persuaded Lieutenant General Khama who was the Commander to always consider giving soldiers reasonable time before their move to their next station of transfer.

Colonel Lesh Motlhatlhedi who was doing the spade work in as far as transfers were concerned noticed all the subordinate commanders about the effected changes that took into account the welfare of the soldier and his family. This was in the early 1990s when BDF had just come out of that phase where soldiers’ rates of suicide and homicide were too high.

It is surprising that in this day and age the military organisation has gone back to the dark days of forcible transfers. Generally the organization has seen some deterioration in conditions of service including remuneration. The last thing the organisation should be doing is to scare its personnel in this manner.

According to Brigadier Scheffers, transfers were done once a year in August. This gave the affected families time to adjust to the shock and then prepare to move on to their next station. Indeed some families were taken through a shocking phase because it was in that era when BDF opened up bases in places like Pitsane, Mahalapye amd Shakawe where housing facilities for families were very rudimentary. 

One of the things we achieved to do as part of the welfare drive in those years was the introduction of social workers in the military. I remember one day a certain lieutenant colonel approached me and said, “re a leboha hore le be le tsisite ma socialist (thank you for introducing socialists). I understood him to mean social workers as he struggled with the Setswana language. August was an ideal time for families to start working on their move to the next station. Looking for spaces for children and even allowing spouses to arrange for transfers with their employers where possible.

Getting transfers for whole families was almost always difficult to achieve. Even in situations where we had to be dealing with other government departments, life was not easy. It was Brigadier Scheffers’ policy to have families staying together where possible.

BDF should consider revising its transfer policy in order to make it as friendly as possible. The Department of Social Welfare should be the lead organ in determining transfers. They should be consulted by the different commanding officers before the actual transfers are effected.

The department would in this case determine the transferability on each family or individual in cases of bachelors. There are certain instances where it is almost impossible to transfer a soldier and his/her family. The reasons are varied and they may include medical considerations. For instance, in the past we used to see soldiers whose children were asthmatic being noticed for transfer to Selebi Phikwe which is a mining town sprawled with sulpha in the atmosphere. 

The biggest problem with BDF transfers has always been that they are used to settle old scores. It is true that a senior officer would transfer his junior only for the reasons that he was having an affair with his subordinate’s wife. A thing that General Khama detested but officers always found good excuses to practice such.

Now that Major General Mpho Mophuting is the new Chief of General Staff, can he practice what he preached? In his article, Pheage alludes to the paper written by Gen Mophuting sometime ago.

This was his thesis when he was attending War College at Fort Leavenworth in the United States. Indeed it is an interesting read. Because in his paper he addresses the issues of families, he can now come to address them in the practical and not in the abstract.

Families are the primary base and existence of any society and this translates to organizations as well. We cannot have strong organisations and institutions if their leadership ignores the core values of meeting the social needs of the employee. For every employee, family occupies the highest priority in the order of things.

Some members of the public have asked in the past why soldiers’ children are enjoying free transportation to schools. It is in the nature of their work that soldiers work very awkward hours and in most cases they have to attend to emergencies. In this case soldiers cannot afford to be dropping and picking their children from school.

Lieutenant Colonel Fikani Macholo must understand that issues of soldiers’ welfare are not to be treated as secret or as internal matters as he has stated. The public being the tax payer would be very much interested in getting to know that their taxes are efficiently used to look after the families of the men and women who are responsible for the security of this country.

The welfare of the families of the service men and women should also be extended to their accommodation. The new BDF Commander should phase out shared accommodation for families.