South African National Defence Force

South Africa has one of the strongest navies in Africa: its strengths and weaknesses

Retrieved on: 
Friday, September 29, 2023
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The deaths of three members of the South African Navy (SA Navy) on 20 September 2023, when a freak wave swept them off the deck of the submarine SAS Manthatisi, has put the spotlight on the organisation and its work. André Wessels is a military historian; his latest book is A Century of South African Naval History: The South African Navy and its Predecessors 1922-2022. The Conversation Africa asked him for insights.How big is South Africa’s navy? How does it compare? The South African Navy has always been one of the strongest naval forces in sub-Saharan Africa.

Key Points: 


The deaths of three members of the South African Navy (SA Navy) on 20 September 2023, when a freak wave swept them off the deck of the submarine SAS Manthatisi, has put the spotlight on the organisation and its work. André Wessels is a military historian; his latest book is A Century of South African Naval History: The South African Navy and its Predecessors 1922-2022. The Conversation Africa asked him for insights.

How big is South Africa’s navy? How does it compare?

    • The South African Navy has always been one of the strongest naval forces in sub-Saharan Africa.
    • Egypt has the strongest navy in Africa, and Algeria is the second strongest as it has been steadily building up its naval forces.
    • Thanks to its submarine capabilities, the SA Navy can be regarded as one of the strongest on the continent.

Can it protect the country’s territorial waters?

    • And the navy can also do patrol work with its surface vessels (if they are able to go to sea).
    • But it has a limited anti-submarine warfare capability, and is not able to project much power across long distances.
    • South Africa is a maritime state, given that all its borders are on the ocean bar its northern one.

What’s its role?

    • Its core business is “to fight at sea”, with its official mission “to win at sea”.
    • The navy can also play a role in humanitarian relief operations, search-and-rescue operations and peace support operations.
    • In the course of its history, the SA Navy has performed these and many other tasks.
    • In addition, the navy has an important diplomatic role in sending warships (“grey diplomats”) on flag-showing visits to other countries.

What is the history of the SA Navy?

    • The navy can trace its history back to 1 April 1922, when the SA Naval Service was established.
    • This became the Seaward Defence Force in 1939 when the Second World War broke out, and the SA Naval Forces in 1942.
    • It played a small but important role in the Allied war effort against Nazi Germany, patrolling the South African coastal waters.
    • All cultural groups, as well as an increasing number of women, would henceforth be represented in the navy.

Nigeria's new national security bosses: 5 burning issues they need to focus on

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, June 29, 2023
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Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu recently appointed new military service chiefs alongside a new national security adviser and inspector general of police.

Key Points: 
  • Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu recently appointed new military service chiefs alongside a new national security adviser and inspector general of police.
  • They are expected to play a critical role in the national security architecture of the new administration.
  • This is because of the precarious state and trajectory of Nigeria’s national security over the years.
  • The proposals highlight the need to reform the workings of the security sector to make it more effective.


The reform is indispensable to revitalise the Nigerian security sector, which has lacked logistics, personnel and strategy.

Depoliticise the military and allied security institutions

    • There is a need to keep security institutions consciously and deliberately away from politics.
    • This can be achieved by making sure they remain under the control of the civilian authority without losing their ethos and vitality.

Demilitarise the security sector

    • Nigeria’s security sector has been so militarised that it works like a sort of praetorian circuit - a close guardian setup exclusive to the combatants.
    • The sector needs to be moderately demilitarised to encourage civilian participation and contributions.

Motivate rank and file


    Nigerian soldiers are arguably poorly equipped, motivated and paid. They are not well looked after, considering the risks and sacrifices that their duties entail. Most non-commissioned personnel in the Nigerian military, for instance, earn less than N100,000 (about US$130) a month. The average member of the South African National Defence Force earns R17,074 (about US$918) a month.

Enhance capacity for combat operations

    • Countering such threats does not merely require the might of arms.
    • There is also a need to build capacity for preemptive, proactive and rapid response to threats.

Optimise operational capabilities


    The operational effectiveness and efficiency of the security institutions largely depend on the quality and adequacy of their enabling resources. Optimal supplies and use of personnel, materials, logistics and funds are a necessity for the improved performance of the institutions.

Conclusion

    • The newly appointed Nigerian security service chiefs work in a climate of intense public expectation.
    • But enhancing the operational efficacy of the national security systems through deliberate structural reforms, no matter how incremental, is imperative.

Did South Africa sell arms to Russia? Only a series of unlikely scenarios could have made it possible

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, May 16, 2023
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On 11 May 2023 the US ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, claimed that South Africa had secretly exported arms to Russia in December 2022.

Key Points: 
  • On 11 May 2023 the US ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, claimed that South Africa had secretly exported arms to Russia in December 2022.
  • The announcement rapidly fed into a popular narrative that South Africa was increasingly siding with Russia in relation to Moscow’s aggressive war in Ukraine.
  • Brigety’s statements made both South African and international news headlines, including the Wall Street Journal, CNN and the Financial Times.
  • Furthermore, as demonstrated in the UN Register of Conventional Arms database, Russia has rarely imported South African arms.

Imports and exports

    • Indeed the Arms Control Committee’s 2019 arms import report lists the permit approval for the import of five million rounds of Russian ammunition to South Africa.
    • Over the years, even the US and the UK have imported arms from Russia according to the UN Register of Conventional Arms.
    • Reports at the time indicate that containers were offloaded in the harbour and then transported to secure locations under tight security.

US accusations of South African arms to Russia

    • Brigety claimed that the US government had intelligence reports indicating that prior to the Lady R departing from Simon’s Town, South African ammunition and possibly arms were loaded onto the vessel and then transported to Russia.
    • South Africa has one of the most comprehensive arms export laws in Africa, the cornerstones of which are transparency and human rights considerations.
    • Traditionally Russia could be considered a South African ally due to the BRICS arrangement.
    • However, reports of Russian perpetrated human rights abuses in Ukraine would most likely override other considerations in terms of South Africa’s arms export considerations.
    • All arms export applications by arms exporters are carefully considered by a scrutiny committee and, thereafter, by the National Conventional Arms Control Committee.
    • The annual arms export reports show that South Africa generally adheres to the Section 15 criteria.
    • If the Arms Control Committee had considered an application to export arms and or ammunition to Russia, then consensus among cabinet ministers would have been necessary.

The devil is in the intelligence reports

    • But such an endeavour would have required the payment of considerable bribes to officials on the docks and the manufacture of fraudulent export documentation.
    • The crux of the arms-to-Russia allegations relates to the content of the US intelligence reports.