South Africa's Armed Forces in transition: Adapting to the new strategic and political environment

Abstract

Abstract This article focuses on the transformation of the South African armed forces since the end of the Cold War. The first section illustrates how the SANDF's mission focus has changed since 1990 from countering a “communist onslaught” on the country, to support of the people of South Africa and regional peacekeeping. Hereafter, the challenges of transformation are discussed in more depth, addressing the changes in civil control over the armed forces, organisational and farce restructuring, cultural transformation, including the integration process, representivity and gender issues and the need to bring defence policies and practices in line with the new Constitution. Here, some of the more controversial issues are discussed such as equality before the law, labour rights for soldiers and HIV/AIDS. The final section places the transformation process in context, by referring to international trends and the universal challenges facing armed forces in their plight to adapt to the changed security and poli...