Namibia - Military Doctrine

Namibia is at peace. Namibia is stable. Namibia's neighbourhood is friendly. However, the Namibian Defence Force is at permanent readiness to respond to any danger, threat or conflict. Danger is ever a looming shadow in human relations. The Namibian Defence Force must at all times be in a state of readiness in order to protect the country against any danger. Since danger is ever present, one cannot anticipate when danger can change into a threat or when a threat can escalate into a conflict. Hence, the need to maintain a Basic Defence Capability.

A Basic Defence Capability should be informed by geographical size and demographic challenges facing Namibia. Namibia is a large territory with a small population. The territory shares borders with four countries. In addition, Namibia has a long coastline. The defence of the land, air and maritime domains is a big challenge to the Namibian Defence Force. The Namibian Defence Force has to strive to find a logical correlation between its size and the size of the population of our country.

On 7 October 2009, Hon Maj Gen (rtd) Charles Namoloh, MP (Ho-Chi-Minh) Minister of Defence had important task to perform when he officially launched the ministry’s Strategic Planning initiative that will help to clearly articulate goals and priorities and create a future vision of the ministry. Through this initiative, the ministry will best use resources at its disposal and also explore additional resources opportunities. The Strategic Plan entitled “Ministry of Defence (MOD) Strategic Plan-Five Years (FYs)-2008/9-2012-13),” will be both transparent and consultative and run over a period of five years 2008-2013. As such, this roadmap will invite all stakeholders to participate in its endeavour and further used to navigate and influence the desire to attain set objectives.

Upon launching the book, Minister Namoloh said they should not look at the strategic plan as an end product but they must translate it into vital actions, adding that, “these results must be tangible and beneficial to our citizens, residents and valuable to all our stakeholders. The responsibility is on all of us to ensure smooth implementation.” As part of Strategic Plan leadership, Minister said it was a cornerstone that incorporated a new approaches and performance metrics in the form of balance scorecard that will enable every officer at every level in the organisation to contribute and measure the extent of their contribution.

Namibia's foreign and defence policy is founded on the principles of peaceful co-existence and co-operation with other countries and in the operation of international law. The day-to-day guarantee of security lies in the maintenance of international order and, in particular, in the regional stability. Defence relations with neighbors and the international community as a whole are good and the MoD and NDF will extend military co-operation and links as far as is practicable. Defence policy must be based on the premise that Namibia may face a regional security threat.

At independence, Namibia had no defence force and it had to be built from scratch. Since then, significant progress has been made. Former members of the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) and the South West Africa Territory Force (SWATF) were demobilised and many of them were recruited into a unified Namibian Defence Force (NDF). The Defence Amendment Act (Act 20 of 1990) sets out a variety of legal requirements for the composition and organisation of the NDF. The Defence Policy Paper approved by the National Assembly in March 1992 presents policy guidelines for the development of the MOD and the NDF.

The British Military Advisory Training Team (BMATT) effort in Namibia has been directed towards developing a programme for creating and training the army prior to its assuming deployment tasks. The program timings had been generated by the need to deploy formed units to undertake security tasks. The BMATT training programme covering the period from April 1990 - March 1995 - its tour of duty in Namibia - has been a tremendous success.

The People’s Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) was an armed wing of the South West Africa People’s Organization SWAPO of Namibia which had waged a protracted liberation war to free the Namibian people from colonial oppression by the then, South African Racist Regime. During the liberation struggle, SWAPO had been waging the struggle on three fronts, namely, Political, Diplomatic and Military front.

The primary mission of the Namibian Defence Force as enshrined in the Constitution, Chapter 15, Article 115 is to defend the territorial intergrity and national interests of Namibia. Its secondary roles include assisting civil power and local authorities in domestic support operations when required, as well as to undertake SADC, AU and UN Peace Support Missions.

Namibia's security is largely dependent upon regional stability. As a result, regional security co-ordination and co-operation will continue to be an important aspect of the defence policy. Procurement Policy: the basic principle for the MOD's procurement policy is to purchase the best quality equipment, and materiel available provided that it:

• suits Namibia's terrain, climate, personnel, storage, accounting and other requirements;
• can be logistically supported, maintained and repaired in Namibia, as far as is practicable;
• can be delivered to or supplied in Namibia within the required timescale;
• is available at the cheapest possible all-inclusive price, and with the most favourable terms of payment.

Goods manufactured within Namibian owned and staffed companies will be given preference provided that the above conditions are met. The MOD intends to trade freely throughout the world. Given the nature of defense business, however, NDF will not become dependent on any one source of supply. The MOD welcomes foreign military aid, provided that it meets a real need and is provided on acceptable terms.

Namibia has legislation such the as the Constitution, the Defence Act, and the Anti-Corruption Act which allow for the independent and legislative scrutiny of defence policy. In addition, the Anti-Corruption Commission, the Office of the Auditor General, the National Planning Commission, Office of the Ombudsman and the Judiciary supplement the legislative efforts for effective and independent scrutiny of defence policy.

The Parliament has legislative powers, approves the defence budget and reviews the President’s decisions to deploy defence forces in critical functions. Parliament can veto and turn down defence policy, however given the power of the president as commander in chief, Parliament can sometimes be overruled by presidential order. There is little to no evidence of this happening, however during the state of emergency in the Caprivi strip the president did use pre-independence regulations in order to deploy the military (instead of enacting police force only) and this decision was not stopped by Parliament.