The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is the name of the armed forces of South Africa. The military was created in 1994, following South Africa's first post-apartheid national elections and the adoption of a new constitution. It replaced the South African Defence Force (SADF), and included personnel and equipment from the SADF and the former Homelands forces, as well as personnel from the former guerilla forces of some of the political parties involved in South Africa, such as the African National Congress's Umkhonto we Sizwe, the Pan Africanist Congress's APLA and the Self-Protection Units of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).
As of 2004, the integration process was considered complete, with the integrated personnel having been incoporated into a slightly modified structure very similar to that of the SADF, with the latter's training standards, tactical doctrine, equipment and officer corps for the most part being retained.
The commander of the SANDF is appointed by the President from one of the armed services. The current commander is General Siphiwe Nyanda. He in turn is accountable to the Minister of Defence, currently Mosiuoa Lekota.
Recent peacekeeping actions on the behalf of 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 the United Nations peacekeeping operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi.
South Africa at one time possessed weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, but its stockpile was destroyed after the end of apartheid. There have been no attempts to rebuild more nuclear weapons.
The SANDF commander consults with members of several councils and committees and chairs the Defence Command Council (DCC), which oversees the defense 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 defense 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.
Four armed services make up the forces of the SANDF:
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Last updated: 05-16-2005 21:28:02
