South Africa’s Clown Military: More Generals and Admirals than ever before – My Comments

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[I look upon the military of the country as a clown show really. I love military history, and I can tell you that truly awesome Generals in Western history were nothing like the clowns and fools that are promoted in South Africa. South Africa was once, Africa's super power. Back then, the average General commanded at least 2,500 troops. But I recall, more than ten years ago, that number had already fallen to one General per 250 or so troops. And I see that the clown show is now busy with more promotions. So goodness knows how many Generals and Admirals we have now! As for our navy, I was in the navy when I first came to the country and the navy was small (10,000 personnel), and in reality you can only, at most, have a tiny handful of Admirals for such a small force. So goodness knows why you would need more than, say half a dozen at the very most. I regard the military as a total idiot show and look upon it with utter contempt. But then again, I see them as my enemy. Jan]

The ranks of one-star generals and junior grade admirals across the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) will be boosted by 24 come Monday (1 November) when a round of promotions and transfers becomes effective.

A Department of Defence (DoD) Bulletin, issued on 27 October by the Human Resource Division, headed by Vice Admiral Asiel Kubu and including congratulations from SANDF Chief, General Rudzani Maphwanya, lists a total of 55 appointments and promotions in and to the one- and two-star ranks.

Appointments are in the four SANDF services – Air Force, Army, Military Health And Navy – as well as divisions including Joint Operations, Defence Intelligence, Logistics, Human Resources Legal Service and Defence Foreign Relations.

Twenty-four promotions see colonels becoming brigadier-generals with 14 retaining their single star and moving to new postings.

Seventeen major generals retain their two stars and will from Monday put their expertise to use in new positions and eight add a star to their rank insignia. The landward force and military health service as well as logistics, human resource, Defence Intelligence, Joint Operations, Military Policy, Strategy and Planning and Maphwanya’s office are beneficiaries of new management.

In view of recent instances of cybercrimes in South Africa against, among others at Transnet, the appointment of a personal staff officer (PSO) for CSANDF in what the Bulletin terms utilisation at Defence Intelligence for establishment of a new cyber command, has to be noted. Both the DoD and the SANDF state in recent annual reports establishment of a command to specifically oversee the cyber domain militarily has been hamstrung by lack of funding. This appointment seems to indicate progress as regards the ever-increasing importance of this component in the national defence strategy.

Source: https://www.defenceweb.co.za/featured/more-generals-and-admirals-for-the-national-defence-force/