The Year of Hard Choices for SANDF

The end of 2014 saw a surge in activity for many conflicts on the continent, and with it, a changing South African National Defence Force (SANDF). The country's much-touted defence review remains in legislative limbo, while the country's troops continue to occupy the Eastern DRC, Darfur and the Mozambican Channel with uncertain outcomes. Nonetheless, requirements placed on the SANDF by the government and regional organisations are propelling the SANDF into a 2015 that will demand that hard decisions be made, lest the force become catastrophically overstretched and underfunded. By JOHN STUPART.