Lieutenant General Lawrence Mbatha is the current Chief of the South African Army. He was appointed to this position in April 2020, before being appointed Chief of the Army he was the General Officer Commanding of the South african National Defence Force training command and before that he was the 19th Commandant of the

South African Military Academy The South African Military Academy is based on similar principles to that of the military academy system of the United States (United States Military Academy United States Naval Academy United States Air Force Academy). The academy is a military ...

Military career

He joined Umkhonto we Sizwe in 1984 and completed courses in Angola and Zimbabwe. He became part of the

South African National Defence Force The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) comprises the armed forces of South Africa. The commander of the SANDF is appointed by the President of South Africa from one of the armed services. They are in turn accountable to the Minister ...

in 1994 when all the forces were integrated. In 2003 he served as Officer Commanding of the Army Support Base in Johannesburg, followed by an appointment as Personal Staff Officer to the Chief of the Army (2007) before serving as Officer Commanding of the South African Army Gymnasium in 2011. He became Commandant of the

in 2012-2018.

References

Living people South African Army generals Year of birth missing (living people) Graduates of the Joint Services Command and Staff College UMkhonto we Sizwe personnel {{SouthAfrica-mil-bio-stub