Lieutenant General Lawrence Mbatha’s landward force is changing, with a second restructuring work session done and dusted in the South African military capital Thaba Tshwane.
An SA National Defence Force (SANDF) social media posting has it the session at what is called the Beyers Naude Conferencing Facility continued work to implement “the new force design/force structure blueprint” for the SA Army approved by the Military Command Council (MCC).
Acting Deputy Chief Army, Major General Renee Mercuur chaired the five-day session from 18 to 22 July giving attendees an overview of work done ahead of the Thaba Tshwane session.
Two guest speakers – Nick Sendall “representing Chief Defence Policy, Strategy and Planning” and Livhuwani Mathoho on behalf of Chief Military Policy and Strategic Planning from Defence Decision Support Institute – gave insights on a future defence policy and the draft capstone concept introduced by former Defence and Military Veterans Minister Thandi Modise.
“Internal role players” from the SA Army were in attendance as well as external ones from “various divisions” according to the post. It concludes reporting “a wide range of insights and collaborations provided guidance on ensuring the SA Army is progressing with the restructuring process.”
There is, at this stage, no indication of how the light modern brigades – made known in 2021 and active during last November’s Exercise Vuk’uhlome at the Combat Training Centre (CTC) in the Northern Cape province will, along with 43 and 46 SA brigades – fit into the restructured landward force. The modern brigades are set up to fill combat and roles in airborne, light, mechanised, motorised and reserve deployments. As far as is known the only one deployed to date is the light in support of the SA Police Service (SAPS) Operation Vala Umgodi to curb illegal mining.
