PILDAT Background Paper on Parliamentary Oversight of Defence: South Africa in the Democratic Era provides an overview of the historic developments in civilian oversight of defence and how Parliamentary Committees in South Africa have been empowered to facilitate the system and practice of oversight on defence.

The South African experience of democratising civil military relations over the last 17 years provides a useful study for Pakistan. The South African Parliament, since the end of Apartheid regime and promulgation of the Constitution of 1996, has successfully established a new democratic, constitutional and legislative framework for defence. The Parliament also met the unique challenges posed by integrating the liberation armies and the Apartheid South African Defence Force (SADF) as well as instituting a broad defence review.

Civil-military relations in post-Apartheid South Africa have been characterised by a concerted effort on the part of the government to establish democratic civilian control over defence. Parliamentary Oversight over defence in South Africa is formally institutionalised within the Constitution. The Constitution of 1996 and the Defence White Paper of the same year set out the framework for this democratic legislative control. The defence sector has accepted this situation, although with many points of contention over the years. Many challenges remain but since democracy is a perpetual process, it is through these processes that democratic oversight is likely to strengthen over time.