Completing the Defence Transformation Process: The Transformation of the South African Reserve force System

This paper examines the transformational challenges that are likely to confront the South African RFs in future.

The utility and importance of reserve forces (RFs) to South Africa’s national defence efforts continue unabated today. Conventional RFs constitute the bedrock of the country’s conventional military capabilities and the territorial forces play a critical role in supporting the police in the maintenance of law and order. This paper examines the transformational challenges that are likely to confront the South African RFs in future. It does this by situating the transformation of the RF within the overall transformational challenges facing the defence community in general, and examines the internal institutional challenges, which confront the transformation of the RF in particular. The paper also explores the extent to which the creation of RFs within sub-Saharan Africa in general can contribute to the consolidation of stable civil-military relations and the institution of more cost-effective methods of defence expenditure. It maintains that the utility of RFs on the African continent remains vastly under-explored and advocates certain approaches where this utility can be more effectively harnessed in future.

About the author

Dr (Col) Rocky Williams is a former Commander in Umkhonto We Sizwe (the guerilla Army of the African National Congress). He was the Director of the Military Research Group – a South African Strategic Studies and Defence Research organisation (1991–1994). He played a major role in the integration and transformation processes of the South African National Defence Force. Rocky resigned as the Director of Operations Policy at the South African Ministry of Defence in 1999. He presently acts as the Director of the Defence Management Programme at the University of the Witwatersrand Business School. He joined the Institute for Security Studies in September 1999 and heads a SADC-wide research programme into civil-military relations. He is also a part-time policy advisor to the South African Ministry of Defence. Dr Williams holds a PhD in civil-military relations, University of Essex, England. He has published widely in both South African and international journals on civil-military relations and defence studies.