Department of Defence (South Africa)

Department of Defence
List
  • 10 other official names:
  • Departement van Verdediging (Afrikaans)
  • umNyango wezokuVikela (Southern Ndebele)
  • iSebe lezoKhuseleko (Xhosa)
  • uMnyango Wezokuvikela (Zulu)
  • Litiko Letekuvikela (Swazi)
  • Kgoro ya Tšhireletšo (Northern Sotho)
  • Lefapha la Tshireletso (Sotho)
  • Lefapha la Tshireletso (Tswana)
  • Ndzawulo ya Vusirheleri (Tsonga)
  • Muhasho wa Vhupileli (Venda)
Department overview
Formed 1912
Type Department
Jurisdiction Government of South Africa
Headquarters Armscor Building, Erasmuskloof, Pretoria
25.813°S 28.260°E / -25.813; 28.260
Employees 79 045
Annual budget R50 000+ million
Minister responsible
Deputy Minister responsible
Department executive
  • Gladys Sonto Kudjoe, Secretary for Defence
Child agencies
  • Defence Force Service Commission
  • Armscor
  • Castle Control Board
Key document
  • Defence Act, 2002
Website www.dod.mil.za

The Department of Defence is a department of the South African government. It oversees the South African National Defence Force, the armed forces responsible for defending South Africa.

As of August 2021 the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans is Thandi Modise.

In August 2023, a Russian Hacker Group named “Snatch” claimed to steal 200TB of classified information, contracts and personal identity information. They allegedly posted a 1.6TB Compressed Archive on the dark web. The Department of Defense claimed that it was “fake news” and no data leak occurred.

Snatch claimed it specifically chose the week of the 15th BRICS summit to release the data since the spotlight was on South Africa.

South Africa has recently been involved in other controversies, notably being accused of providing and selling arms to Russia, performing military exercises with Russia and not taking a stance on the Russian Invasion of Ukraine.

Organisation and structure

The Macro-Structure of the Department of Defence as Approved by the Minister of Defence on 15 August 2008 is below:

See also