With Armed Forces Day/Week growing larger on the horizon, preparations and, in some instances action, for the event are underway.
The force preparation side, with its integral logistics component, saw a train moving prime mission equipment, including Mamba and Casspir armoured personnel carriers and Samil trucks, from an unidentified departure point – probably the Northern Cape Combat Training Centre at Lohathla – to Air Force Base (AFB) Makhado in Limpopo. From “fighter town”, equipment will move about 90 km by road to Thohoyandou, venue for Armed Forces Day 2026.
The SA Military Health Service has been active in and around the former capital of the erstwhile Venda providing, among others, general health, lifestyle, optical and veterinary service to rural residents. The initiative, named Project Owethu (“ours” or “our own” in IsiZulu and isiXhosa), has been up and running at different sites including the Elim, George Masebe and FH Odendaal district hospitals as well as Mashoanyaneng, Ga-Matlou and Basani villages.
Also underway ahead of Armed Forces Day on 21 February is what a Defence Corporate Communication (DCC) social media journalist calls “a mini career expo”. It opened for prospective air men and women, military medics, sailors and soldiers on 2 February to seek detailed information on the how’s, what’s and whys of the different career options in the Department of Defence (DoD) and the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) .
Armed Forces Day will feature a brigade level parade with SANDF Commander-in-Chief, President Cyril Ramaphosa set to take the salute, as well as an SA Air Force (SAAF) flypast and 21 gun salute.
Ramaphosa will lay a wreath in commemoration of all SANDF soldiers who have fallen in the line of duty, both internally and externally, including those who perished aboard the SS Mendi troopship that sank on 21 February 1917 after it collided with a large cargo steamship, Darro, in the English Channel south of the Isle of Wight. South Africa first commemorated the Mendi sinking (in which more than 600 SA Native Labour corpsmen died) in 2010 in Thaba Tshwane.
During a media launch in Thohoyandou on Wednesday 4 February, the Chief of the SANDF, General Rudzani Maphwanya, said Armed Forces Day balances a modern celebration of the military with historical remembrance and honouring of those who have paid the ultimate price.
This year’s edition sees Armed Forces Day in Limpopo for the second time, as celebrations rotate through all nine provinces. Maphwanya said Armed Forces Day not only showcases the SANDF’s hard work but signals to the people that the SANDF is able to deploy anywhere in the country at the shortest possible time, and functions as a rehearsal for a deployment.
“Currently we have witnessed devastating floods in Limpopo and Mpumalanga. The SANDF has brought with it expertise to assist in the restoration of damaged infrastructure,” Maphwanya said. This includes bringing in capabilities to restore bridges, to augment the Welisizwe rural bridge construction project that the SANDF is involved in. The SANDF is also partnering with the Spouses Forum to collect and deliver donated items to those affected by floods, including perishable and non-perishable goods, clothing, blankets, etc.
Making the people of South Africa is a key objective of Armed Forces Day, Maphwanya said. “The primary impact is acceptance by the people that their defence force is here and will continue to be the defenders of their freedoms: freedom from fear, want, and indignity. That is what we are here to make an impact on.”
