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The following is a 'list of South African military chiefs'. From 1958 until the first post-apartheid election in 1994, the present-day South African National Defence Force was known as the South African Defence Force. From 1912 to 1958, the military was known as the Union Defence Forces.
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Contents

SADF (before 1994)

Chief of the SADF

Chief of the Army

Chief of the Air Force

Chief of the Navy

Surgeon-General

SANDF (since 1994)

Chief of the SANDF

Chief of Joint Operations

Chief of the Army

Chief of the Air Force

Chief of the Navy

Surgeon-General

SADF (before 1994)

The South African Defence Force consisted initially of land forces and a division of the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve (RNVR). An aviation corps was formed in 1915 and replaced by the South African Air Force in 1920. A naval branch was added in 1922, and the RNVR was incorporated into it in 1942.
In 1951, the defence forces were reorganised into three distinct combat services: the South African Army, the South African Air Force, and the South African Navy. The organisation was renamed "South African Defence Force" in 1958. In 1968, their medical branches were pooled to form the South African Medical Service, which was given the status of a combat service in 1979.

Chief of the SADF

(There was no overall commander from 1912 to 1922).

★ Maj Gen Andries Brink DTD DSO (1922-1933)

★ Gen Sir Pierre van Ryneveld KBE CB DSO MC (1933-1949)

★ Lt Gen Leonard Beyers (1949-1950)

★ Lt Gen Christiaan du Toit DSO (1950-1956)

★ Gen Hendrik Klopper (1956-1958)

★ Gen Stephen Melville SSA OBE (1958-1960)

★ Gen Pieter Grobbelaar SSA DSO (1961-1965)

★ Gen Rudolph Hiemstra SSA SM (1965-1972)

★ Adm Hugo Biermann SSA SD OBE (1972-1976)

★ Gen Magnus Malan SSA SD SM (1976-1980)

★ Gen Constand Viljoen SSA SD SOE SM (1980-1985)

★ Gen Johannes Geldenhuys SSA SD SOE SM (1985-1990)

★ Gen Andreas Liebenberg SSA SD SOE SM MMM (1990-1993)

★ Gen Georg Meiring SSAS SD SM MMM (1993-1994)

Chief of the Army

(There was no separate army commander until 1948).

★ Brig Christiaan du Toit DSO (1948-1950)

★ Brig Hendrik Klopper DSO (1950-1953)

★ Maj Gen Pieter Grobbelaar DSO (1953-1958)

★ Maj Gen Nick Bierman CBE (1958-1959)

★ Maj Gen Sybrand Engelbrecht SM (1959-1963)

★ Maj Gen Petrus Jacobs SSA SM (1963-1965)

★ Lt Gen Charles 'Pop' Fraser SM (1966-1967)

★ Lt Gen Willem Louw SM (1967-1973)

★ Lt Gen Magnus Malan SSA SM (1973-1976)

★ Lt Gen Constand Viljoen SSA SM (1976-1980)

★ Lt Gen Johannes Geldenhuys SSA SD SM (1980-1985)

★ Lt Gen Andreas Liebenberg SSAS SD (1985-1990)

★ Lt Gen Georg Meiring SSAS SD SM MMM (1990-1993)

★ Lt Gen Hattingh Pretorius SM SM MMM (1993-1994)

Chief of the Air Force

★ Col Sir Pierre van Ryneveld KBE DSO MC (1920-1937)

★ Col Frederick Hoare CBE (1937)

★ Lt Col Hector Daniel MC AFC (1937-1939)

★ Col John Holthouse OBE (1939-1940)

★ Maj Gen Christoffel Venter CB DFC (1940-1945)

★ Brig Harold Willmott CBE (1945-1946)

★ Brig James Durrant CB DFC (1946-1951)

★ Brig Harold Willmott CBE (1951-1954)

★ Brig Stephen Melville OBE (1954-1956)

★ Maj Gen Barend Viljoen SSA OBE (1956-1965)

★ Lt Gen Henry 'Kalfie' Martin SM CBE DFC (1965-1967)

★ Lt Gen Jacobus Verster SSA SM (1967-1975)

★ Lt Gen Robert 'Bob' Rogers SSA SM DSO DFC (1975-1979)

★ Lt Gen Michal Muller SSAS SD (1979-1984)

★ Lt Gen Denis Earp SSA SD SM (1984-1988)

★ Lt Gen Jan van Loggerenberg SSAS SD SOE (1988-1991)

★ Lt Gen James Kriel SSAS SD SM MMM (1991-1994)

Chief of the Navy

★ Cdr Norman Rankin (1922-1928)

★ Cdr R.P. Fitzgerald (1928-1932)

★ Vacant (1933-1939)

★ R Adm Guy Hallifax CMG (1940-1941)

★ Cdre James Dalgleish CBE (1941-1946)

★ Cdre Frederick Dean OBE (1946-1951)

★ Brig Pieter de Waal CB CMG (1951-1952)

★ V Adm Hugo Biermann SSA OBE (1952-1972)

★ V Adm James Johnson SSA SM DSC (1972-1977)

★ V Adm Charl Walters SD SM (1977-1980)

★ V Adm Ronald Edwards SSA SM (1980-1982)

★ V Adm Andries Putter SSAS (1982-1985)

★ V Adm Glen Syndercombe SD SMM (1985-1989)

★ V Adm Andries Putter SSAS (1989-1990)

★ V Adm Lambert Jackson Woodburne DVR SD SM (1990-1992)

★ V Adm Robert Claude Simpson-Anderson SD SM MMM (1992-1994)

Surgeon-General

★ Maj Gen Eugene Raymond SSA SM (1960-1969)

★ Lt Gen Colin Cockcroft SSA SM (1969-1977)

★ Lt Gen Nicolaas Nieuwoudt SSA SD SM (1977-1988)

★ Lt Gen Daniel Knobel SSAS SD SM MMM (1988-1994)

SANDF (since 1994)

The SADF amalgamated with the Azanian People's Liberation Army, Umkhonto we Sizwe, and the homeland defence forces to form the South African National Defence Force in 1994. The SANDF was based on the existing SADF structure of South African Army, South African Air Force, South African Navy, and South African Medical Service (which was renamed "South African Military Health Service" in 1998).

Chief of the SANDF

★ Gen Georg Meiring SSA SD SM MMM (1994-1998)

★ Gen Siphiwe Nyanda SSA SBS CSL DMG MMS MMM (1998-2005)

★ Gen Godfrey Ngwenya MMS (2005- )

Chief of Joint Operations

★ Lt Gen Deon Ferreira PVD SD SM MMM (1999-2000)

★ Lt Gen Godfrey Ngwenya MMS (2000-2005)

★ Lt Gen Sipho Binda (2005-2006 )

Chief of the Army

★ Lt Gen Hattingh Pretorius SD SM MMM (1994)

★ Lt Gen Reginald Otto SD SM MMM (1994-1998)

★ Lt Gen Gilbert Ramano SSAS SD MMS MMM MMB (1998-2004)

★ Lt Gen Solly Shoke MMS (2004- )

Chief of the Air Force

★ Lt Gen James Kriel SSAS SD SM MMM (1994-1996)

★ Lt Gen Willem Hechter SSAS (1996-2000)

★ Lt Gen Roelf Beukes SD SM MMM (2000-2005)

★ Lt Gen Carlo Gagiano SM MMM (2005- )

Chief of the Navy

★ V Adm Robert Claude Simpson-Anderson SSAS SD SM MMM (1994-2000)

★ V Adm Johan Retief SD SM MMM (2000-2005)

★ V Adm Refiloe Mudimu DMG SM MMS MMM (2005- )

Surgeon-General

★ Lt Gen Daniel Knobel SSAS SD SOE SM MMM (1994-1997)

★ Lt Gen Davidson Masuku SSAS MMM (1997-2000)

★ Lt Gen Jurinus Janse van Rensburg SD SM MMM (2000-2005)

★ Lt Gen Vejaynand Ramlakan DMG MMS MMB (2005)