Ex Phirima force validation and verification exercise underway at CTC
The SA Army Combat Training Centre (CTC) is presently home to an assortment of SA National Defence Force (SANDF) components for combat readiness verification...
SA Navy struggles to counter maritime threats amid severe underfunding
The South African Navy (SA Navy) is in crisis due to years of underfunding, a situation Vice Admiral Monde Lobese, Chief of the Navy,...
SA Navy platform non-availability blamed on Armscor dockyard
As its prime customer, the SA Navy (SAN) has twice “registered its concerns with the chronic under-performance of Armscor dockyard”.
In a nutshell, that...
International conference told of SA military veteran issues
Delegates to the recent 16th International Conference of Ombuds Institutions for the Armed Forces (ICOAF) heard the South African military Ombud expound on the...
SANDF crisis demands immediate action from Motshekga – DA
Defence Minister Angie Motshekga's failure to provide a report on the state of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is a clear indication...
Minister Motshekga wraps up SANDF service calls at Military Health Service
Defence and Military Veterans Minister Angie Motshekga this week made it to the headquarters of the fourth SA National Defence Force (SANDF) arm of...
Defence priorities need to be reassessed in order to fix the SANDF – Kobus...
Amongst the many voices calling for military reform and a new defence review is former Democratic Alliance (DA) Shadow Minister for Defence and Military...
Motshekga’s Department of Defence disputes massive R4 bn Public Works debt
The Department of Defence (DoD), by way of its Logistics Division, disputes that it owes the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) about...
Ramaphosa honours repatriated liberation struggle fighters
President Cyril Ramaphosa led and officiated a homecoming ceremony in Pretoria on Friday 27 September when the remains of liberation struggle fighters were returned...
DA pushes for ministerial accountability as SANDF faces allegations of mismanagement
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called on Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Angie Motshekga to explain South African National Defence Force (SANDF) priorities...
It’s official – the SANDF has a Space Command Section
That the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) and its airborne service, the SA Air Force (SAAF), is committed to space was emphasised to delegates...
Liberation fighters’ remains returned to SA
Air Force Base (AFB) Waterkloof was dutifully sombre yesterday (Wednesday 25 September) when the mortal remains of nearly 50 liberation fighters who passed away...
Parliament defence committee hears SANDF is “deteriorating”
In the wake of presentations by senior defence and military academics, Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans (PCDMV) is on record as...
Defence portfolio committee up and running, still no word on standing committee
One of two Parliamentary oversight committees specifically tasked with defence and military veterans is up and running with, as yet, no sign of the...
Navy Chief bemoans extra SANDF deployments as funding shrinks
SA Navy (SAN) Chief, Vice Admiral Monde Lobese, used a Military Skills Development (MSD) passing out parade to make public the growing utilisation of...
Top MSD recruits can further military careers in foreign climes
This month’s passing out parade for military skills development (MSD) recruits at Infantry School in Oudtshoorn saw what appears to be a first for...
Lack of security at DoD ammunition depot worrying AfriForum
Apparent security breaches and shortcomings at 93 Ammunition Depot are reasons for concern when the presence of what AfriForum calls “foreign militias” in South...
Defence department asset register “not complete”
Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson’s lack of faith in the record of government property assets is boosted by a Department of Defence...
SA President Ramaphosa to officially open AAD 2024
This month’s Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) exhibition at Air Force Base (AFB) Waterkloof will be opened by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, also...
No human blame apportioned for 2023 Manthatisi deaths
The September 2023 incident involving the SA Navy (SAN) submarine SAS Manthatisi (S101) and an SA Air Force (SAAF) Super Lynx helicopter could not...
Navy HQ in Pretoria was stop three on Ministerial familiarisation tour
The South African Defence and Military Veterans Ministry familiarisation tour made its third service stop at the SA Navy (SAN) headquarters unit in downtown...
Personnel carrier tender: Is all well at Armscor?
The Request for Bid (ELWS/2024/71) for the procurement of personnel carriers for the SA Army was issued on 23 July 2024, with a requirement...
First SANDF Chief Georg Meiring has died
Retired general Georg Meiring, the first chief of the then nascent SA National Defence Force (SANDF) formed in 1994, died on Tuesday (3 September)...
Minister Motshekga honours women in defence during SANDF Women’s Day Parade
Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Angie Motshekga lauded the dedication of female soldiers for their service, particularly in the recent COVID-19 pandemic, during...
Parliamentarians given military veteran benefit numbers
It appears the official Parliamentary opposition – the Umkhonto we Sizwe (MP) Party – is serious about the plight of South Africa’s military veterans...
SANDF delegation reviews Project Hotel during call on Sandock Austral Shipyards
The men and women charged with keeping the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) focussed and on track met in Durban last week for the...
Minister Motshekga told the SAAF is critical to national security
SA Air Force (SAAF) Chief, Lieutenant General Wiseman Mbambo, was the second chief of an SA National Defence Force (SANDF) service to host Defence...
Mobilisation Olympics a SAMHS force preparation tool
Ahead of deployment to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), SA Army soldiers and support personnel underwent an intensive psycho-social mental and physical...
Zondo’s final judgement rules in favour of SANDF soldier
Now retired chief justice Raymond Zondo, best remembered nationally and internationally for his unflagging work exposing State capture, will also be fondly thought of...
SANDF facing legal claims in excess of R1.5 billion
Part of Angie Motshekga’s “inheritance” as Minister of Defence and Military Veterans is a massive R1.5 billion plus account for civil claims and “mobile...
Landward force rolls out the red carpet for Minister Motshekga
The first stop – services-wise – for South Africa’s seventh minister of defence and military veterans since 1994 was the SA Army where Angie...
PLAN hospital ship and SAMHS join forces for humanitarian exercise in SA
The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) hospital ship Peace Ark is presently in Cape Town’s Victoria & Alfred basin with Chinese medical personnel working...
‘Unsafe’ SANDF bases require urgent intervention – AfriForum
Civil rights organisation AfriForum has called on Defence and Military Veterans Minister Angie Motshekga to immediately address “critical vulnerabilities that are jeopardising national security,”...
Machinery not working properly cited for SAN frigate not going to Russia
SA Navy (SAN) Chief, Vice Admiral Monde Lobese, explaining cancellation of a planned voyage to Russia by SAS Amatola (F145) put it down to...
First PCDMV oversight visit hears of Army’s “strategic dilemma”
With the National Assembly (NA) and National Council of Provinces (NCOP) starting work this week in earnest the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military...
Focus on Boards of Inquiry at Army legal officer refresher training
That Boards of Inquiry (BoIs) are integral and necessary components of proper military administration was evidenced this month by way of military law refresher...
Top defence trio meets senior Defence Secretariat staff
The latest stop in the round of hands-on “getting to know you” calls by the top trio of civilians at the Defence and Military...
Holomisa visits Military Academy, notes its importance
As part of getting to grips with his portfolio, Deputy Defence and Military Veterans Minister Bantu Holomisa braved the Western Cape’s current round of...
JCSC tour takes in KZN battlefields
KwaZulu-Natal, particularly its internationally renowned battlefields, was stop number one for this year’s Army College Junior Command and Staff Course (JCSC) with historical significance...
Priorities for Angie Motshekga and the new Ministry of Defence leadership team
South Africa’s new Ministry of Defence leadership is taking over at a difficult time and will need to make some critical decisions while bringing...
JCSC students on historic first educational tour
It’s billed as “historic” and is in that this year’s Junior Command and Staff Course (JCSC) Army College students are the first in the...
SANDF leadership to fix SANDF “challenges” – Holomisa
Deputy Defence Minister Bantu Holomisa has pledged that from this week, senior military leadership will brief Defence Minister Angie Motshekga on fixing challenges in...
Two dead in SA Army College shooting
The calm of the senior learning institution of the SA Army – Army College – was shattered by gunshots leaving two people – one...
Motshekga committed to addressing SANDF underfunding, Defence Review implementation
Pushing for more financial resources, implementing the 2015 Defence Review and filling vacant posts are some of the priorities new defence minister Angie Motshekga...
SA Army fine tuning MSD selection
Given the massive number of applications for the Military Skills Development (MSD) system, the SA Army - as the largest recipient of recruits -...
Defence budget ‘indefensible’
Rise Mzansi is one of the many political parties criticising the latest defence budget, calling the current allocation ‘indefensible’ as the South African National...
SA Chaplain General heads SADC council
The officer in overall charge of the spiritual and moral needs of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF), Brigadier General (Father) Ernest Masewu, is...
UFS Political Science Department hosting a Fixing the SANDF event
As part of its ongoing Africa Dialogue Series, the University of Free State (UFS) Political Science Department has assembled a five-strong panel to assess...
Armscor issues eagerly awaited border patrol APC bid
The South African Army’s long search for armoured personnel carriers (APCs) for border patrol duty is moving forward, with an invitation to bid from...
SANDF confirms latest casualty in the DRC
The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has confirmed that a soldier was shot and killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) last...
