ABSTRACT
In 1997, following the creation of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), then-deputy foreign minister Aziz Pahad stated that South Africa was ‘prepared to play a more forceful role in peacekeeping in Africa’. As stated in the South African Defence Review 2014, post-Cold War African conflicts create ‘complex, highly fluid and often lethal environments’. In 1994 defence spending stood at less than 3% of GDP and around 10% of government expenditure, compared to approximately 4.4% of GDP during the apartheid era. To implement the recommendations of the defence review, the government would have to overcome two significant barriers. The defence department also continues to suffer from the treasury’s control of UN funding designed to compensate South Africa for its peacekeeping contributions, which is not always diverted back into the SANDF. The recommendations of the review are disconnected from contemporary political realities in South Africa.
