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An Ecclesiological Reflection on the Role of Chaplains in 32 Battalion (1977-1993)

From 1966 to 1989, the South African Defence Force (SADF) was involved in a low-intensity war in Namibia, the so-called ‘Border War’. To secure sufficient manpower to defend themselves against internal and external threats from liberation movements, often supported by the Soviet Union, the National Party introduced increasingly comprehensive systems of conscription for white males. In the main, though there was opposition from English-speaking churches, the war and conscription was supported by the mainstream Afrikaans churches in South Africa. As such, they supported a comprehensive Chaplain’s Service that reached all corners of the SADF. However, the SADF also made use of units that were not primarily made up of white South Africans. Once such unit was 32 Battalion, constituted from soldiers that used to belong to the National Front for the Liberation of Angola. When they joined the SADF, the soldiers brought their families with them, necessitating the SADF to care, physically and
spiritually, for both soldiers and civilians. This article examines the role that chaplains played in a unit that fell on the periphery of the SADF’s commitment; though they were almost continuously involved in fighting for the SADF, to a large extent they fell outside of the normal military structures. Drawing extensively on primary sources, often recently declassified, the study provides an ecclesiological perspective on the influence of chaplains and religion on the men and women associated with 32 Battalion and contributes to the larger discourse about the relationship between religion and the military. Extant primary and secondary sources have been consulted including interviews with relevant anonymised respondents.