DA will oppose forced military service for youth

28 July 2015

According to media reports, the presidency’s national steering committee is considering implementing military conscription - forced military service - for South Africa’s youth (see City Press report).

Given that ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe has recently publicly supported the re-introduction of military conscription, it is possible that forced conscription will become government policy. 

Such a policy is a clear example of goal displacement. The purpose of the military is to defend our borders, not to attempt to create jobs. Looking to the military in an attempt to fix our country’s youth unemployment crisis is a resounding admission by the ANC government that its economic policies simply cannot create real employment for the millions of young South Africans who find themselves unemployed. 

Military conscription was outlawed in 1994 when Apartheid ended. There is absolutely no space for forced military service in a constitutional democracy that values the freedom of movement, conscience, thought, and opinion.

It is also questionable whether it is wise to train young unemployed people how to use a gun and then release them into a society where job opportunities are limited.

The DA supports a national internship programme which is voluntary, demilitarised, and includes other sectors such as the health and education sectors. 

There are many alternative ways to create opportunities for young people. These include:

Establishing Job Zones near ports and airports, and in rural areas, to attract investment into industries that employ many people;

Upscaling the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) to provide temporary relief from unemployment and much-needed skills development as the DA has done successfully in the City of Cape Town;

Creating a national government internship programme based on the successful model used in the Western Cape; and,

Introducing a real Youth Wage Subsidy to address high levels of youth unemployment. Government’s current intervention, the Employment Tax Incentive (ETI), has failed to provide young South Africans with job opportunities they need; instead, it has benefited middlemen and big employers.

The DA will therefore write to Deputy Minister Manamela to propose these alternative youth employment strategies, which create opportunities for young people rather than forcing them into military conscription.

The DA is committed to creating a South Africa where all of the country’s young people have access to opportunities and jobs. We will support any policy that aims to do so. However, such policies should not infringe on the right of our young people to choose lives they can value.

We therefore will not support forced military service.

Statement issued by Phumzile Van Damme, DA Shadow Deputy Minister in the Presidency, July 28 2015