An infantry battalion was generally some 700 strong, an artillery battalion usually had three batteries of six to eight weapons each, a tank squadron had around 14 main battle tanks, and an anti-tank missile troop should have four vehicles with missile launchers.

The internal stability force was commanded through one regional headquarters (Soutpansberg Military Area in the Northern Province and 19 Group Headquarters, which draw on a mix of full-time infantry battalions and reserve rear area security units (commandos) for troops.

The Army's reserve force was virtually defunct, not having received new recruits in useful numbers for several years. Under the 1996 White Paper on Defence and the 1998 Defence Review, the SANDF's reserves are meant to provide the bulk of its manpower in case of war or national calamity. But it had been so underfunded in recent years that by 2002 many battalions that should be able to field several hundred troops can barely manage a few dozen. The 52 battalions and 183 commando units that make up the bulk of the reserves needed R264m a year to function properly, but the 2002 allocation was R6.6m.

Functionally, the army distinguishes between combat corps and support service corps. The combat corps include infantry, artillery, antiaircraft, and armored corps. The infantry was the largest of the combat corps and had both mechanized and airborne units. The artillery corps uses indirect fire guns, howitzers, field guns, and multiple rocket launchers, generally coordinating operations with the anti-aircraft corps to protect ground forces. The armored corps relies largely on tanks with 105-millimeter guns and on a variety of other armored vehicles.

The support service corps include engineers, signals specialists, and others trained in ordnance, technical services, intelligence, personnel, and finance, as well as musicians, caterers, and the military police. Service units maintain, repair, and recondition all equipment, except communications equipment. The military police serve as the army's internal police force and control traffic to and from operational areas.

The Commandos are formally under the authority of the regional commands of the army but are organized and deployed in a tradition similar to that of the National Guard in the United States. Originally volunteers trained for quick-response to local emergencies, they were used to quell unrest during the apartheid era; in the 1990s, Commando units are assigned to guard important installations, such as industrial plants, oil refineries, communication centers, and transportation facilities.

Commandos generally serve a total of 1,000 active-duty days over a ten- or twelve-year period. In emergencies, the period of active duty was increased in increments of fifty days. Urban Commando units are generally organized into a single urban battalion. Rural Commando units are sometimes organized into a regional battalion.

The military police in the SANDF trace their origins to 30 December 1938, when South Africa established the South African Corps of Military Police (SACMP), or Suid-Afrikaanse Militere Polisie Korps, as a unit of the Permanent Force of the South African army, part of what was then called the South African Defence Force. This proclamation went into effect on 1 November 1938 and was the official birthday of the SACMP. The SACMP remained an integral part of the South African army, providing military police support during domestic operations and war for more than 60 years.

In 1994, the SACMP underwent its largest transformation with the election of the African National Congress as the majority government in the new South Africa. Reflecting the diversity of the people and their culture, a number of armed forces of the apartheid era South Africa were integrated into the new SANDF, replacing the South African Defence Force, on 27 April 1994. These armed forces were the so-called statutory forces - the South African Defence Force, the Transkei Defence Force, the Ciskei Defence Force, the Bophutatswana Defence Force, and the Venda Defence Force - and the three nonstatutory forces, which were armed wings of previously outlawed political parties. These were Umkhonto we Sizwe of the African National Congress, the Azanian People's Liberation Army of the Pan-African Congress, and the KwaZulu Self-Protection Force of the Inkatha Freedom Party.

With integration into the SANDF, military police of these forces were also integrated into the SACMP. The corps of military police did not change its name, but the diversity of the corps reflected the new beginning of South Africa.

NEWSLETTER

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