The Education of a Young Objector

Abstract

Slightly built and small-boned with an appearance younger than his twenty-eight years, Saul Batzofin quietly told his story. He had served his initial two years compulsory service in the South African Defence Force (SADF), including duty in the so-called Operational Zone along the war-torn Namibian border. From his Namibian experience came a questioning which eventually led to his serving eighteen months in prison. This inoffensive, elfin-like young man seemed an unlikely candidate to defy South Africa’s powerful military establishment. His story is not about ideology, but about the gradual politicizing of a young recruit who, with the support of the End Conscription Campaign (ECC), found courage.