ABSTRACT
For the South African armed forces, the post-Cold War era has truly been an era of uncertainty and change. Unlike many other Western armed forces, they had to adapt not only to a new strategic environment, but to a new political dispensation that affected almost every facet of their being. Consequently, the 1990s witnessed a period of radical transformation where the newly formed South African National Defence Force (SANDF) grappled with ways to bridge the gaps between the demands placed on it by the security environment, its allocated financial resources, and last, but by no means least, the need to adhere to the principles spelt out in the new Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (hereafter Constitution).
