During its time on the Western Front, the South African Brigade and its Scottish heritage 4th Battalion, first served a lengthy stint with the British 9th (Scottish) Division, and following the Brigade's decimation in March 1918, was reconstituted and incorporated in September into the 66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division until the end of the war.

However, in mid-1941, the regiment was briefly sent to Egypt to escort thousands of Italian prisoners of war to internment camps in South Africa; it returned to Egypt in late June of the same year to join the newly arrived South African 1st Infantry Division in the Western Desert.

This action played a significant role in halting Rommel's advance on the tired and depleted British Eighth Army.

This was the first large-scale incursion by the South African Defence Force (SADF) into Angola during the 23-year-long "Border War" in South-West Africa (now Namibia).

The regiment was mobilised in April 1994 as part of the efforts by the South African National Defence Force to ensure a peaceful first fully democratic election.

[3] In an announcement by the SANDF's Directorate Defence Corporate Communication in June 2022 regarding name changes of South African Army Reserve units in Cape Town, it was confirmed that the unit has not officially changed its name and remains known as the Cape Town Highlanders.

The unit wears black instead of brown boots as a mark of mourning for a Scottish soldier, Major-General Sir John Moore, Commander of the Highland Brigade Two types of headgear, the khaki Balmoral bonnet and the Glengarry, which is blue with red-and-white dicing.

Officers carry an ash-plant walking stick on all occasions except mess and other formal functions; or when armed with a claymore or rifle.

To send troops to Europe to support the Commonwealth in World War I, Generals Botha and Smuts created the South African Overseas Expeditionary Force.

"Status" was meant to imply administrative purposes, as Britain was paying for the maintenance of the force in the field for the sake of local political sensitivities.

[7] On 8 June 1916 the Adjutant General's office at Defence Headquarters issued a note stating: ....the force is raised locally for the purpose of assisting the Imperial Authorities...and it amounts to the Union Government having allowed the Imperial Authorities to recruit men in South Africa for this force.....as it is certainly not raised under the Defence Act of the Union of South Africa, and this being the case, the Union Government can grant no commissions.

Egypt 1916, Somme 1916, Delville Wood, Arras 1917, Ypres 1917, Menin Road, Messines 1918, Hindenburg Line, Cambrai 1918, Pursuit to Mons, France and Flanders 1918, Le Transloy, Scarpe 1917, Kemmel, Lys 11 Field Postal Unit