Do South Africans respect a uniform?

When a group captain at the Wittering air base near Peterborough, England, advised Royal Air Force personnel not to wear their uniforms in public, it sparked an enormous outcry. Weren’t these people part of the armed forces responsible for the safety of Britain and, accordingly, entitled to the public’s respect?

Closer to home, we could well ask the same question: Do we respect the uniforms of our army and police force? Allied to that, have they done enough to warrant our respect and admiration?

When it comes to the army, the following topics always come up: Lesotho and our less-than-dazzling display “over there”; the arms deal; and the flood of people and goods swarming across our borders seemingly unchecked.

My experience has been that our public believes that a tsotsi with a flick-knife would be unstoppable if we left it to the SANDF.

Of course there is an argument to be made for our current good relations with our neighbours, but this must not detract from the fact that even countries at peace require a solid military to act as a deterrent and to guard our borders.

Perhaps there are members of the military who read these articles and wish to set us straight.

In respect of the police and working with them as often as I do, I would observe the following: I have never met a better bunch of guys who, despite being under-equipped, poorly paid and badly abused, put their lives on the line for the public on a daily basis.

Of course there are rotten apples — welcome to the world. These guys deserve our respect and gratitude and the support of the government for the incredible work they do. They don’t set policy or quotas; they just go about their life-threatening tasks in the face of what often seems to be public ingratitude.

They certainly are deserving of our deepest sympathy and utmost respect.