Helmoed-Römer Heitman is a South African author and commentator on military affairs. He was a member of the South African army reserve from 1970 to 1994. After the introduction of democratic rule in 1994 he briefly remained within the newly established

SANDF The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) comprises the armed forces of South Africa. The Chief of the SANDF is appointed by the President of South Africa from one of the armed services. They are in turn accountable to the Minister of ...

until 1996. During his career as a military advisor with direct ties to the apartheid military in the 1970s and 1980s, he penned various articles in favour of harsh and repressive "counter-insurgency" methods against members of liberation movements such as the ANC and

SWAPO The South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO ; , SWAVO; , SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former independence movement in Namibia (formerly South West Africa). Founded in 1960, it has been ...

. In a 1977 article Heitman advocated the use of detention without trial against political dissidents and argued that

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a legal procedure invoking the jurisdiction of a court to review the unlawful detention or imprisonment of an individual, and request the individual's custodian (usually a prison official) to ...

should be suspended. In the same article he also recommended the use of deadly firepower against "agitators" at political rallies. He is the South African correspondent for

Jane's Defence Weekly ''Jane's Defence Weekly'' (abbreviated as ''JDW'') is a weekly magazine reporting on military and corporate affairs, edited by Peter Felstead. It is one of a number of military-related publications named after John F. T. Jane, an Englishman who ...

Awards

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References

South African writers South African non-fiction writers White South African people South African military personnel of the Border War South African Army officers {{SouthAfrica-mil-stub