Browsing by Author "Steyn, Leon"

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    The human transformation of the South African Navy between 1957 and 1993
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-03) Steyn, Leon; Van der Waag, Ian; Monama, Fankie; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Military Science. School for Security and Africa Studies: Military History.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The South African Naval Forces became a permanent arm of the Union Defence Force (UDF) after the Second World War – on 1 April 1946 – and was named the South African Navy from 1 January 1951. Like other military forces of this period, the Navy remained a typical male-dominated organisation for the first decades of its existence. Furthermore, in South Africa, the policy of the National Party government, which came to power in 1948, shaped the permanent force component of the UDF as a White male Afrikaner dominated organisation. Two world wars were however notable deviations in this pattern. In order to solve its dire need for more manpower, African, Coloured and Asian men were recruited to serve in the UDF during both World Wars. Their contribution was significant – during the Second World War alone, 36% of whole-time volunteers were non-White. Gender restrictions were also relaxed as more than 21 000 women were recruited to serve in the UDF during the 1939-45 conflict. Their utilisation was mostly in auxiliary capacity, but their service in uniform nevertheless left an important, post-war, military legacy. The constant need for more “manpower” by the military, in a country that was racially segregated, was at the heart of this dichotomy. “Non-White” soldiers and women were needed by the military during times of conflict; yet were not considered for similar employment during the periods of peace in the inter- and post-war years. The nationalist military build-up of the SADF, which included the rapid expansion of the SA Navy from the late 1950s, again forced the defence authorities to consider suitable alternatives in order to meet the growing demand for manpower. They looked to the marginalised groups who had served, albeit in small numbers, during the world wars. The first group of Coloured soldiers was recruited for the South African Army from 1963 and for the Navy from 1965. Women were recruited for the Permanent Force from 1972 while Indian male recruits first joined in 1974. African men were mostly utilised in the Auxiliary Services of the SADF, but also employment with the SA Army in a permanent capacity from 1975. The first purposeful recruitment of Africans for the Navy however only followed in the early 1990s. This thesis aims to provide a better understanding of these human transformational events that unfolded – in a staged pattern – in the South African Navy amidst and as a result of the changing South African political and strategic landscape between 1957 and 1993. It is as much a history of the South African Navy as it is of the people that served the organisation during this time – and more widely of the political and socio-economic condition of South Africa itself. Previous historical studies on the Navy focussed exclusively on its development as an organisation, its equipment (ships) and naval operations. The Navy’s social history, especially as it relates to the groups under discussion, has been grossly neglected. This thesis therefore examines the enlistment of Coloureds, Indians, women and Africans into the South African Navy and their experience of military service during the period 1957 to 1993. This was a critical time in the history of country, witnessing the rise of the apartheid state and beefing up of the SADF. It investigates the events and circumstances that initiated the decision to recruit and integrate formerly marginalised sectors of the population into the Navy from the mid-1960s and the mid-1970s respectively and using prosopography to analyse their career progression by the early-1990s. The reintroduction of women to the Navy in 1972 and their particular utilisation and specific challenges to integrate into the organisation with emphasis on gender in the military; and the relative late recruitment of Africans to the Navy during the early 1990s, in contrast to the recruitment and appointment of Africans in the Army during the early 1970s comprise the various aspects investigated. The measure and nature of integration and how de-segregation was implemented on board ships and ashore are also examined. This allows a more nuanced understanding of the mutually reciprocal impacts that these appointments had on the service personnel and the organisation as a whole.