The military as it exists today was created in 1994,[5][6] following South Africa's first nonracial election in April of that year and the adoption of a new constitution.

[citation needed] The South African Commando System was a civil militia active until 2008, based upon local units from the size of company to battalion.

[15] Equipment became largely obsolete due to inadequate maintenance, while renewal stalled with devastating effect on the defence industry.

[20] Notwithstanding, it was reported to parliament in 2022, that technical skills gained from personnel of the Cuban RAF facilitated the preservation and maintenance of over 600,000 infantry weapons.

[21] Their mechanical and vehicular skills allowed for the inspection, repair, refurbishment and/or de-activation of vehicles in the special forces and the four arms of service fleets, besides the implementation of stock control and technical support measures, and the rehabilitation of army workshops and work stations.

After submissions to parliament by Armscor, earlier in 2022, a spokesman for the official opposition, the DA, stated that the country's defence capability had been weakened to the extent that it was unprepared for a serious security challenge.

[13] The defence minister's appointment of an Air Force chief, Wiseman Mbambo, who cannot fly a plane and doesn't have a pilot's licence was also criticized.

[23] The SANDF had only 14 infantry battalions consisting of 12,000 soldiers in aggregate, of which five were deployed in peacekeeping and border patrol, leaving only nine to serve as home or rapid response units.

[25] During the same month Sandu threatened legal action if the dilapidated Air Force headquarters building in Pretoria were not repaired to facilitate acceptable working conditions.

[26] In March 2022 the SANDF and Navy were locked out of several office buildings in Pretoria due to rent defaults by the Department of Public Works.

[28] An additional 13 SANDF personal from the Logistics, Joint Operations and Special Forces divisions were convicted for corruption in another incident.

The South African Special Forces Brigade is the only organic unit under the direct command of the Joint Operations division.

[35] The SANDF publishes (or provides links) to documents describing its strategy, plans, performance, white papers and related government acts.

[40]Project Hoefyster was launched in 2013 to partially replace the South African Army's ageing Ratel fleet with around 240 new generation Badger infantry fighting vehicles in a number of different variants over the next decade.

[42] Deliveries were scheduled between 2019 and 2022 but problems at Denel have caused delay's with no vehicles delivered to the South African Army, Armscor has recommended cancelling the contract and the funds to be spent on Ratel upgrades instead.

[45] The South African Army has deferred the acquisition of trucks and armoured vehicles to replace its Samil and Casspir fleets under Projects Sepula and Vistula as it explores domestic refurbishment and production.

[48] The South African Air Force's top priority is to acquire new strategic airlift aircraft to replace its ageing C-130BZ Hercules.

Denel Dynamics conducted the first test launch of the Umkhonto GBL system for the South African Army in October 2013.

[57] The South African Army is also seeking to acquire unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for reconnaissance and target acquisition.

[59][60] All four branches of the South African National Defence Force are receiving new digital tactical communications equipment for complete interoperability between services under Project Radiate.

[62] Brazil and South Africa also collaborated on the A-Darter air-to-air missile project which will be used on both their JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets.

Both countries are looking to further cooperate in missile development, notably on the 100 km range Marlin radar-guided air-to-air weapon which will feature a radar seeker head and will be developed into an all-weather surface-to-air missile (SAM) that can be used by South African and Brazilian Navies, In addition South Africa is also looking at collaborating with Brazil on a high speed target drone and a vertical takeoff and landing unmanned aerial vehicle (VTOL UAV).

[64] South Africa is looking at collaboration with Indian defence companies after a trade visit identified areas of cooperation that include ammunition, landward weapons, particularly artillery, cybersecurity, electronic warfare, unmanned aerial vehicles, robotics and artificial intelligence.