Four armed services
Four armed services make up the forces of the SANDF:[3]
South African Army
South African Air Force
South African Navy
South African Military Health Service
The South African Commando System was a territorial militia active until 2008, based upon local units from the size of company to battalion. In its final years its role was to support the South African Police in internal security, During such deployments the units came under Police control.
The commander of the SANDF is appointed by the President from one of the armed services. The current commander is General Godfrey Ngwenya. He in turn is accountable to the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans.
Recent peacekeeping actions by the South African military include an invasion of Lesotho in order to restore the democratically-elected government after a coup, as well as extensive contributions to United Nations and African Union peacekeeping operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi. An operation to Sudan has just recently[when?] been started and is scheduled to be increased to Brigade strength in the next few months.
The SANDF commander consults with members of several councils and committees and chairs the Defence Command Council (DCC), which oversees the defence budget. On the DCC are the four service chiefs, the chief of the National Defence Force staff, the military inspector general, the chiefs of defence headquarters staff divisions, and other key defence officials. Headquarters responsibilities are allocated among six staff divisions—the Finance Division, the Intelligence Division, the Logistics Division, the Joint Operations Division, the Personnel Division, and the Planning Division.
Recently a large-scale programme was launched to re-equip the SANDF with warships and submarines being purchased in Germany and fighter jets being purchased in Sweden and the United Kingdom. This has been controversial due to the great cost and reports of corruption in the awarding of contracts.
Issues that face the SANDF include a severe shortage of pilots and naval combat officers, due to the replacement of white officers from the former SADF with appointments from the old liberation forces, none of which ever had any aviation or maritime components. The loss of trained personnel and the decommissioning of much needed equipment due to funding issues, high HIV-rates amongst personnel and the fact that SANDF infantry soldiers are some of the oldest in the world, all raise questions regarding the current fighting efficiency of the SANDF. Some of these issues are being addressed with the introduction of the Military Skills Development (MSD) programme, as well as aggressive recruitment and training by the Reserve Force Regiments. Funding shortages also cause problems.
