ABSTRACT
From the beginning of negotiations over the military pact, all the military formations agreed that if the new South African National Defence Force (SANDF) were to become a functional component of the new political dispensation it would have to be reengineered on different social foundations. The membership and internal power relations of the new armed forces, the participants concurred, would have to represent the multicultural diversity of the Republic, and civil-military relations would have to be appropriate to a democratic system with the military under firm civilian control. Years into democracy and the millenium having arrived, most Strategic Planning Process (SPP) prescriptions for institutional change continue to dominate internal debates within the military and at its intersection with the civilian realm. Gender-sensitivity programs have been a part of military education prior to transition but have tended to focus on the display of good manners by gentleman officers rather than a considered interpretation of gender empowerment.
