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Friends United Meeting |
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December 1999
Conscientious Engagement:
A Quaker Deputy Defense Minister
By Bridget Moix
As I poured my morning cup of Rooibos tea, I heard the distant voice of President Mbeki an-nouncing the new Ministry appointments from the radio in the resource room.
"Defense: Patrick 'Terror' Lekota, Minister.
"Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, Deputy Minister…"
I paused, sugar poised above my cup. Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge? Deputy Minister of Defense? I wiggled a finger in my ear and looked around the Peace Center to see if anyone else's jaw was on the floor. Surely, the President of South Africa could not have just appointed a Quaker woman as second in command of the national military.
A Military Dove
It has been called "either a stroke of genius, or a monumental gaffe!" Nozizwe is not only a member of Central and Southern Africa Yearly Meeting and a committed pacifist, she has also made non-violence and peace building a visible part of her political life for years. She is a leader in gender issues and has a background in development. She's not what most people would consider "military material."
But then President Mbeki is not most people.
And South Africa is not most places.
I was volunteering on a short-term basis with the Quaker Peace Center in Cape Town, South Africa, when President Thabo Mbeki announced his new Cabinet this past June. A pulse of hope and energy was still throbbing in the country's political vein following the second successful democratic elections, and expectations for a strong performance from Nelson Mandela's successor were high.
With the end of apartheid in 1994, the international community began to look to South Africa as a beacon of hope for the peaceful resolution of conflict and democracy-building. In more recent years that spirit of hope and interest in South Africa's future has begun to wane in the West, but an incredible transformation continues in the new democracy.
South Africa continues to rewrite almost all its domestic and foreign policies, replacing the repressive, racist laws of apartheid with the vision of a non-racial, peaceful, and prosperous society. The country's Constitution is a toddling three years old. One of the greatest challenges facing the new government is how to transform a military establishment geared toward offensive war and internal repression into an institution to promote human security and regional stability.
To that end, new policy is being drafted on the weapons industry, arms trafficking, and the role of South Africa in international peacekeeping missions. In just five years, South Africa has reduced its military budget by more than 50% and adopted a defense policy that recognizes social and economic justice, human development, and the consolidation of democracy as central to ensuring national security. After being dominated by military hawks for decades, the country's Ministry of Defense is now being led by two civilian doves.
I first heard Nozizwe speak about her appointment to the Ministry at a gathering of Friends of the Cape Western Monthly Meeting. It was August 8, the day before National Women's Day in South Africa. The meeting had gathered to listen to Nozizwe, to offer their support, and to address their own concerns about the appointment. There was a sense of both hopeful anticipation and critical trepidation in the meetinghouse. Despite Friends' history of political engagement, the idea of a Quaker serving within the military establishment does not settle easily with many Friends. The question inevitably surfaces: "Will she change the institution, or will the institution change her?"
"The first thing I did when I received the offer," Nozizwe explained, "was fall to my knees and pray. The second was to call my husband and discuss the news."
Nozizwe, born in KwaZulu-Natal, has an educational background in philosophy and sociology, professional experience in women's empowerment, and a strong interest in development issues. She is married to Jeremy Routledge, Director of the Quaker Peace Center, and has two sons. She joined the ANC underground during the height of the anti-apartheid struggle and served a year in solitary confinement for her political activism.
In 1994, in South Africa's first democratic and non-racial elections, Nozizwe was elected to Parliament. Now, she has been hand-picked by Thabo Mbeki to help lead the continuing transformation of what remains the most powerful military establishment in the region.
"I was in a state of shock for a while," she explained, "but I am feeling more and more supported by the President and the leadership.... I do believe I am there for a reason."
As Nozizwe spoke with us of her vision for the Ministry over the next five years-her ideas for transforming military culture, reducing weapons proliferation, confronting the arms industry, promoting conflict resolution skills-building, and providing leadership in the region for a stable and lasting peace-I began to realize that something special is happening in South Africa, for the government, for its people, and for Friends worldwide.
I have only become politically engaged over the past few years, largely as a result of an internship with the Friends Committee on National Legislation. Quakerism and politics have come to be integral and overlapping parts of my life, but I have always shied away from the idea of becoming too involved in government. That, I believed, would require too much compromise from any self-respecting Quaker!
Nozizwe has taught me differently.
A Complicated Witness
South Africa's Deputy Minister of Defense will face considerable political and spiritual challenges in her new role. Sub-Saharan Africa faces a continuing cycle of deadly conflict, the slowest rate of economic growth worldwide, and political instability that threatens the transition to democratic rule. The region is burdened by an insurmountable level of international debt, and scarce public resources continue to be diverted away from social programs to fund military build-up. The end-result is that the people of Africa are deprived of their basic human needs while they drown in a flood of weapons. In South Africa alone, more than 30 people die each day from gun violence, many of them children under the age of 12. Meanwhile, 20% of South Africans still lack access to clean water, 37% live without electricity, and unemployment stands near 40%.
In such a climate, effective leadership to eradicate the scourge of weapons, promote peaceful alternatives for the resolution of conflict, and build a culture of real cooperation is needed. Deputy Minister Madlala-Routledge can help provide that leadership, and her spiritual values will be an important element in her work.
"Quakerism is about recognizing and upholding life," she explains, "and being a Quaker helps me to center myself and to think deeply about issues. I believe we need that to achieve peace."
Despite the initial questions raised over the appointment of a pacifist to a high-ranking military position, the party leadership and President Mbeki appear to know exactly what they're doing. Nozizwe's on-line biography lists her membership in the Religious Society of Friends near the top, and her immediate boss, Minister Patrick Lekota, is also well known for his commitment to non-violent political action.
Nozizwe enjoys recounting the story of a recent welcoming visit to the new Ministry by a British weapons dealer. After the industry representative finished his standard marketing spiel, Minister Lekota began his own sales pitch-recounting the hunger strikes on Robben Island, the value of non-violent protest, and the teachings of Gandhi.
The story makes me laugh with hopeful excitement, but the reality is that South Africa has recently announced an R29 billion (U.S. $4.8 billion) military procurement deal that has been in the works for years. As a representative of the Ministry, Nozizwe will have to go along publicly with such decisions, whatever her own beliefs. Yet, she is willing to face this risk in order to provide another voice in the internal debate, and to demonstrate to the world that pacifism is not about passively waiting for peace.
"Many Quakers are very active in bringing about social justice and have been throughout history," she recently told the press, "I have never met a Quaker who thought that sitting and meditating would solve the world's problems."
Following the announcement of the weapons procurement deal, Nozizwe made sure to remind South Africans publicly that "each rand or pound spent [on military build-up] is a rand or pound not spent on human development." A few weeks later, the Ministry created one of the world's most transparent mechanisms for tracking arms sales by uploading detailed information on all South Africa's weapons exports over the past three years, as well as an exhaustive explanation of the current procurement package, on its website (www.mil.za).
Clearly, Nozizwe has embarked upon a complicated career move.
A Challenge to Friends
At her request, South African Friends are seeking ways to help Nozizwe in her new work, both politically and spiritually. A Clearness Committee is being established to provide guidance and support in the months and years to come. Imagine, a Deputy Minister of Defense with a Clearness Committee!
Regardless of how many decisions she will be able to directly impact, or how many changes she will see unfold in her five-year term in the Ministry of Defense, Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge is undertaking a tremendous spiritual and political witness. And she is challenging Friends to do the same. Friends' witness for peace and justice in the world is not a simple matter of saying no to war. It demands that we stand at the center of the fury and offer a voice of calm. It challenges us to engage those policy-makers and institutional structures that promote a culture of violence in creative, transformative ways. It asks us to work with those whom we stand against to create a better future for all.
Bridget Moix works as a Research Associate at the Arms Trade Resource Center of the World Policy Institute in New York. She attends 15th Street Meeting and is pursuing a Master's degree in international security policy and conflict resolution at Columbia University.
Copyright (c) 1999 Friends United Meeting
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