Being a South African legal beagle in uniform doesn’t mean military skills are ignored as a group from Defence Legal Services Division found out over a two-week period in a wintry Drakensberg.
The group of military law practitioners were the tenth in an ongoing annual exercise to sharpen survival skills for those having to provide legal advice and service under battlefield conditions.
The exercise, known as Mafadi in recognition of the highest peak at 3 464 metres in the central Drakensberg, is designed to sharpen the survival skills of participants. This is seen as essential if they are called to theatres of operations where conflict necessitates legal advice and intervention.
“Conducting military operations requires legal considerations as part of planning,” Lieutenant Colonel MP Lebotse, Communication Officer, Defence Legal Services Division reported, adding, “applicable laws during military operations influence every level of command and require military law practitioners to provide effective legal support to commanders”.
Additionally, military law practitioners should be able to advise commanders on the risks and implications of non-adherence to applicable legal frameworks as well as advising on options available to commanders within the legal regulations.
This, Lebotse has it, makes it imperative that military law practitioners be properly trained to be able to provide legal support.
Mafadi is also, according to the communication officer, a combat readiness exercise for military law practitioners who can be called on for continental deployments.
This year’s Mafadi, held between 18 and 31 May, saw participants make it through four set objectives. They were: joint battle handling; qualifying for the 2024/25 Executive Leadership programme’s long patrol exercise component; qualifying for Part 1 for the executive leadership programme starting on1 July and the military law practitioners’ combat readiness exercise.
