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President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the SANDF deployment in his 12 February State of the Nation Address.

Build soldiers capacity to combat the HIV epidemic

On the same day we commemorated World Aids Day 2024, I was at the vigil of a former classmate and fallen soldier who died of HIV related illnesses in Kenya. Amid the sadness of…

Media crackdown in Burkina Faso intensifies

More foreign news outlets are gagged over massacre reports accusing soldiers of killing at least 223 people in revenge attacks in February

Bound: Black men arrested for being in white area illegally. Photo: Ernest Cole

Brash photographer Ernest Cole revisited

House of Bondage: The book that shocked the world

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the SANDF deployment in his 12 February State of the Nation Address. (David Harrison/M&G)

Women still considered a threat to military effectiveness and warrior spirit

But there is evidence that women’s voices can no longer be ignored in the armed forces – meaning that gender is now firmly on the agenda as never before

Rooikat vehicles formed part of the army’s response to the July 2021 riots. Photo: Rajesh Jantilal/ AFP/Getty

Army vets who responded to call for reserves during July unrest still unpaid

‘The whole operation … was a process of confusion and a total lack of command … and control’

Rioters loot the Jabulani Mall in the Soweto district of Johannesburg on July 12, 2021. – South Africa said it was deploying troops to two provinces, including Johannesburg, after unrest sparked by the jailing of ex-president Jacob Zuma led to six deaths and widespread looting. Overwhelmed police are facing mobs who have ransacked stores. Six people have died, some with gunshot wounds, and 219 people have been arrested, according to a police tally issued before the army deployed. (Photo by LUCA SOLA / AFP)

Soweto businesses vandalised, robbed as looting and violence spreads

The pillaging and destruction, which started in KwaZulu-Natal in reaction to former president Jacob Zuma’s incarceration, has been hijacked by residents and non-ANC members

Shrinkage: In the past Sudanese pastoralists from the highlands moved to the lowlands during the dry season so that their animals were close to grazing land. But civil war and climate change has resulted in encroachment on cultivated land. Photos: Stefanie Glinski/AFP

Conflict until the cows come home

Climate change and civil war are escalating tensions between South Sudan’s herders and crop farmers, who are competing over land

South African and American soldiers recently took part in a joint training exercise in the Northern Cape

Why is the US chasing ‘Congolese rebels’ in the Northern Cape?

In many ways, the two armies are miles apart but they face many similar challenges

​Memories of black South African soldiers who bore arms and fought in War II

​Memories of black South African soldiers who bore arms and fought in War II

A filmmaker spoke to black South African World War II vets who told of being armed and fighting at El Alamein.

Why South Africa’s GI Janes have to tough it out and conform to masculine norms

Equal in word but not deed, South Africa’s female soldiers are forced to conform to masculine norms

Campaign of errors

Campaign of errors

With its confusing title and sloppy research, this book on the ECC is not worth soldiering through.

CAR reject François Bozizé and President Jacob Zuma encounter a heap of technical difficulties in the land of bandits and bromance.

Pimples: Dude, where’s my CAR?

CAR reject François Bozizé and President Jacob Zuma encounter a heap of technical difficulties in the land of bandits and bromance.

This week: the death of South Africa’s soldiers in the Central African Republic and renewed calls for Communications Minister Dina Pule to be sacked.

Politics Need to Know: Why have our soldiers died in CAR?

This week: the death of South Africa’s soldiers in the Central African Republic and renewed calls for Communications Minister Dina Pule to be sacked.

Malema addressed disgruntled soldiers who were placed on special leave and used the opportunity to take a dig at Jacob Zuma and the ANC

Malema soldiers on

Malema addressed disgruntled soldiers who were placed on special leave and used the opportunity to take a dig at Jacob Zuma and the ANC

The Nigerian army confirmed that they had killed 16 militants in an area of the country’s northeast.

Nigerian soldiers kill al-Qaeda-linked militants

Nigerian soldiers have killed at least 16 militants blasts rocked an area of the country where Boko Haram terrorists were believed to be hiding.

Govt fights court ruling on soldier dismissals

A request for leave to appeal a court order that stops more than 1 000 soldiers from being fired has been lodged, the Department of Defence said.

Training Afghanistan’s police seen as key to future

The future of Afghanistan is placed in the hands of police officers and their superiors. Focus is placed on skills development and education.

Court reprieve for protesting soldiers

The SANDF will, for at least the next two months, not fire any soldiers who took part in an alleged illegal protest march last month.

Sisulu not denying soldiers’ problems, says deputy

Defence minister Lindiwe Sisulu is not denying that there are problems in the working conditions of soldiers, her deputy minister said on Wednesday.

In need of marching orders

SANDF chief Lieutenant General Solly Shoke said that allowing soldiers to be unionised was “perhaps a mistake” on the government’s part.