The defence force is struggling to meet all of its transformation aims. The Department of Defence and Military Veterans’ chief of transformation, Maj-Gen Olga Nodola, briefing Parliament’s joint standing committee on defence, said the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) had made some progress towards gender parity. In 1994-95 only 20% of SANDF members were women and this had risen to 25% by 2015-16, she said. Black South Africans went from making up 36% of the military in 1994-95 to more than 70% in 2015-16. The number of white members fell from more than 40% to about 10% in the same period she said. The military population had shrunk slightly during this period, she said, from 82,531 in 1994-95 to 77,792 in 2015-16. Maj-Gen Nodola said the military’s transformation agenda included race, gender, disability and modernising the military environment. She said 0.6% of people in the military had disclosed they were living with a disability. Of the 440 members living with disabil...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.