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List Of South African Military Chiefs
This article lists the South African military chiefs. From 1958 until the 1994 South African general election, first democratic general election in 1994, the present-day South African National Defence Force was known as the South African Defence Force. From 1912 to 1958, the South African military was known as the Union Defence Force (South Africa), Union Defence Force. In terms of section 202(1) of the Constitution of South Africa, the military command of the Defence Force consists of the Chief of the Defence Force plus the Chiefs of the combat arms (Army, Air Force and Navy) as well as * the Surgeon-General of the South African Military Health Service; * the Chief of Joint Operations of the Defence Force; * the Chief of Defence Intelligence; * the Chief of Human Resources; and * the Chief of Logistics. Head of the Defence Force The Defence Force consists of the South African Army, Army, South African Air Force, Air Force, South African Navy, Navy, and South African Medical Se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1994 South African General Election
General elections were held in South Africa between 26 and 29 April 1994. The elections were the first in which citizens of all races were allowed to take part, and were therefore also the first held with universal suffrage. The election was conducted under the direction of the Independent Electoral Commission (South Africa), Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), and marked the culmination of the four-year process that Negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa, ended apartheid. Millions queued in lines over a four-day voting period. Altogether, 19,726,579 votes were counted, and 193,081 were rejected as invalid. As widely expected, the African National Congress (ANC), whose slate incorporated the labour confederation Congress of South African Trade Unions, COSATU and the South African Communist Party (SACP), won a sweeping victory, taking 62 percent of the vote, just short of the two-thirds majority required to unilaterally amend the Interim Constitution of South Africa, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Melville
General Stephen Alexander Melville (31 December 190417 June 1977) was a South African Air Force officer. He commanded air force formations in East Africa, North Africa, Madagascar, and Italy during the Second World War, and rose to Air Chief of Staff (1954–56) and Commandant General of the South African Defence Force (1958–60). Early life Melville was born in Matatiele, Natal, on 31 December 1904, and was educated at Grey College, Bloemfontein. He then worked in a bank, and later joined the Merchant Navy as a stoker. He joined the South African Mounted Rifles in 1924 as a trooper before transferring to the Artillery. In 1929, after a short boxing career in South Africa and the United States, Melville was trained as a pilot and transferred to the South African Air Force. Air Force career Melville commanded air force formations in the East African Campaign, Battle of Madagascar and Italian Campaign during the Second World War. For his service, Melville was appointed an O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Godfrey Ngwenya
General Godfrey Nhlanhla Ngwenya (born 1950) is a former South African military commander and diplomat. He served as Chief of Joint Operations from 2001 to 2005, and Chief of the South African National Defence Force from 2005 until 2011. Early life Godfrey Ngwenya was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 28 April 1950. He attended Orlando High School, where he matriculated in 1970. He joined the ANC and the ANC's Military Wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), at the height of the student uprisings in South Africa in 1976. While in exile he underwent military training in Angola and passed his further commanders' courses in the then German Democratic Republic and the Soviet Union. He has been married to his spouse Busi since 1984 and has 3 children, one of which is cult figure Duma Ngwenya. Military career Ngwenya joined Umkhonto weSizwe (MK), the military wing of the African National Congress, in 1976, and commanded MK forces in Angola from 1983 to 1989. He transferred to the South ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siphiwe Nyanda
General Siphiwe Nyanda (born 1950) is a former List of South African military chiefs, South African military commander and politician. He was a member of uMkhonto we Sizwe and served as List of South African military chiefs#Chief of the SADF, Chief of the South African National Defence Force from 1998 to 2005, Minister of Communications (South Africa), Minister of Communications from 2009 to 2010 and was appointment as a board member of Denel in May 2018. Military career Nyanda joined Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the military wing of the African National Congress, in 1974, and served as a guerilla commander during the liberation struggle against the South African government in the 1980s. He was appointed MK Chief of Staff in 1992, and served on the Transitional Executive Council which oversaw the change of government in 1994. Lieutenant General Nyanda became part of the South African National Defence Force, into which MK was incorporated in 1994, and served successively as Chief of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
UMkhonto WeSizwe
uMkhonto weSizwe (; abbreviated MK; ) was the paramilitary wing of the African National Congress (ANC), founded by Nelson Mandela in the wake of the Sharpeville massacre. Its mission was to fight against the South African government to bring an end to its racist policies. After warning the South African government in June 1961 of its intent to increase resistance if the government did not take steps toward constitutional reform and increase political rights, uMkhonto weSizwe launched its first attacks against government installations on 16 December 1961. The group was subsequently classified as a terrorist organisation by the South African government, and banned. For a time it was headquartered in Rivonia, which was rural at that time but is now an affluent suburb of Johannesburg. On 11 July 1963, nineteen ANC and uMkhonto weSizwe leaders, including Arthur Goldreich, Govan Mbeki and Walter Sisulu, were arrested at Liliesleaf Farm, Rivonia. (The farm was privately owned b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Azanian People's Liberation Army
The Azanian People's Liberation Army (APLA), formerly known as Poqo, was the military wing of the Pan Africanist Congress, an African nationalist movement in South Africa. In the Xhosa language, the word 'Poqo' means 'pure'. After attacks on and the murder of several white families the APLA was subsequently classified as a terrorist organisation by the South African National government and the United States, and banned. APLA was disbanded and integrated into the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) in June 1994. Etymology In 1968 the "Azanian People's Liberation Army" (or APLA) replaced the defunct name "Poqo", which means pure in Xhosa, a local South African language, as the armed wing of the PAC. Its new name was derived from Azania, the ancient Greek name for Southern Africa. The name Azania has been applied to various parts of southeastern tropical Africa. In the Roman period and perhaps earlier, the toponym referred to a portion of the Southeast African c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Georg Meiring
General Georg Lodewyk Meiring (18 October 1939 – 3 September 2024) was a South African military commander. He served as Chief of the Army (1990–93) and Chief of the South African National Defence Force (199398). Background Georg Meiring was born in Ladybrand, Orange Free State Province, Union of South Africa on 18 October 1939. He obtained a Master of Science in Physics from the University of the Orange Free State. Meiring died in Pretoria on 3 September 2024, at the age of 84. Military career Meiring joined the South African Army as a signals officer in 1962 and, in 1980, became Director of Signals of the South African Army. Meiring served as Deputy Chief of the Army from 1982 to 1983 and as General Officer Commanding (GOC) South West Africa Territorial Force from 1983 to 1987. He was later GOC Far North Command, Deputy Chief of the Army again, Chief of the Army from 1990 to 1993, the last Chief of the South African Defence Force from 1993 to 1994, and the first ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andreas Liebenberg
General Andreas "Kat" Liebenberg (18 April 193823 May 1998) was a South African military commander. He served as General Officer Commanding South African Special Forces (1982–85), Chief of the Army (1985–90) and Chief of the South African Defence Force (1990–93). Military career Liebenberg joined the South African Army in 1955 and, after obtaining a BA Law degree at the University of Stellenbosch, was commissioned in 1961. Liebenberg was posted to London as a military attache in 1969. In 1972, he returned from London to become second in command of the Army Gymnasium. Two years later he was back at Army Headquarters as a Staff Officer before becoming Director Infantry and, in December 1977, as a colonel, Officer Commanding 2 Military Area (later called Sector 10) at Oshakati. He stayed there till January 1980, when he became Director of Operations at Army Headquarters in the rank of brigadier. Liebenberg served as General Officer Commanding South African Special Forces ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johannes Geldenhuys
General Johannes Jacobus (Jannie) Geldenhuys (5 February 193510 September 2018) was a South African military commander who served as Chief of the South African Defence Force from 1985 to 1990. Early life Geldenhuys was born in Kroonstad on 5 February 1935. He would later matriculate from Hoërskool Voortrekker in Bethlehem, Orange Free State. Military career He joined the army on 4 January 1954 as a candidate officer. Geldenhuys obtained a BMil from the University of Pretoria in 1956 before joining 1 Special Service Battalion. In 1965, he was based at the South African Embassy in Luanda, Angola as a Vice-Consul, a position he held until 1968. He was appointed as Army Chief of Staff Intelligence and then Army Chief of Staff Operations. He went on to high command in the South African Army, serving as commander of South West Africa Command from 1977 until 1980, when he was briefly appointed as General Officer Commanding the South West African Territorial Force. Later in 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constand Viljoen
General Constand Laubscher Viljoen (28 October 19333 April 2020) was a South African Army officer and politician. He co-founded the Afrikaner Volksfront (Afrikaner People's Front) and later founded the Freedom Front Plus, Freedom Front (which in turn merged into the Freedom Front Plus before the 2004 South African general election, 2004 election). Military service Viljoen matriculated at Standerton High School in 1951. He joined South Africa's pre-republic South African Defence Force, Union Defence Force at the Military Gymnasium in Voortrekkerhoogte for the Permanent Force Cadet Course of which he won the "Best Student" in 1952. He studied at the Military Academy from 1953 and graduated as Best Student in 1955 receiving a degree in military science at the University of Pretoria. He was among others Aide de Camp to Dr EG Jansen, Battery Commander at 4 Field Regiment, Instructor at the School of Artillery and Armour, OC 14 Field Artillery Regiment, 14 Field Regiment in Bethlehem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magnus Malan
General Magnus André de Merindol Malan (30 January 1930 – 18 July 2011) was a South African military figure and politician during the last years of apartheid in South Africa. He served respectively as Minister of Defence in the cabinet of President P. W. Botha, Chief of the South African Defence Force (SADF), and Chief of the South African Army. Rising quickly through the lower ranks, he was appointed to strategic command positions. His tenure as chief of the defence force saw it increase in size, efficiency and capabilities. As P.W. Botha's cabinet minister, he posited a total communist onslaught, for which an encompassing national strategy was devised. This entailed placing policing, intelligence and aspects of civic affairs under control of generals. The ANC and SWAPO were branded as terrorist organizations, while splinter groups ( UNITA and RENAMO) were bolstered in neighbouring and Frontline States. Cross-border raids targeted suspected bases of insurgents or act ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hugo Biermann
Hugo Hendrik Biermann, (6 August 191627 March 2012) was a senior officer in the South African Navy. He served as Chief of the Navy from 1952 to 1972 and Chief of the South African Defence Force from 1972 until 1976, the only naval officer to have served in the post. Early life Biermann's father, also named Hugo Hendrick, joined the Orange Free State postal service at the age of 12, and later joined the South African Railways and Harbours as a telegraphist. Born in Johannesburg on 6 August 1916, Biermann was one of four children. His brothers Phillip and Stefanus (Chips) served on whalecatchers that had been converted to minesweepers during the Second World War. His brother Stefanus reached the rank of rear admiral in the South African Navy. Biermann started school in the Transvaal until his father was transferred to Cape Town. He completed his schooling at Jan van Riebeeck High School and, after leaving school at the age of 16, joined the South African Training Ship '' Gene ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
