Apartheid’s ‘Total Strategy’: Arming the Racist State – Part 2
As concluded in Part 1, the acceptance of the “total national strategy” had two important effects – it changed the organisational structures, and it changed the way in which policy, particularly security policy, was made. These effects were witnessed in two practical aspects: the intensive and extensive militarisation of particularly White South African society; and the introduction of the national security management system.
The Militarisation of South African Society
The Defence Amendment Act of 1977 extended compulsory military service for white male South Africans from one to two years, provided for military censorship of the media, and for the commandeering of goods and equipment. In that year, in order to counter the United Nations arms embargo, the apartheid government issued a proclamation under the National Supplies Procurement Act of 1970, enabling the Minister of Economic Affairs to order the manufacture and delivery of any goods and to take over any supplier which refused to comply.
The Armaments Development and Production Amendment Act of 1977 transferred responsibility for the procurement of arms from the Armaments Board to The Armaments Corporation of South Africa (Armscor), thus streamlining the production and acquirement of arms and military material. Armscor was originally established in 1968 as an arms production company, primarily as a response to the international arm
