A National Guard of about 125 soldiers initially formed the Bophuthatswana National Guard in time for the independence of Bophuthatswana. Initially this group merely performed ceremonial duties and was housed within the office of the President.
A SADF Officer, Brigadier Riekerk, served as a military adviser to President Lucas Mangope. Over time an embryonic Department of Defence was developed resulting in the establishment of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force (BDF) on the 30 November 1979 with Brigadier Riekerk as the Minister of Defence and Lt Col Jack Turner as the Chief of the BDF.
Brigadier M.P. Janse van Rensburg as Chief fell under the Chief of the BDF.[1]
Attempted coup
The establishment of the Bophuthatswana National Security Unit as an addendum to the BDF in 1986 may have contributed to the aborted coup attempt of 2 February 1988. This unit was primarily responsible for the provision of infrastructure. One contentious issue was the low entry requirements for the BNSU compared to that of the BDF, resulting in dissatisfaction.
After the coup was thwarted through the intervention of the SADF, Brigadier Riekert resigned as Minister of Defence and President Mangope personally took over the defence portfolio.[2] The BNSU was disbanded and a small number of former BNSU members were allowed to join the BDF. For practical reasons, a Defence Committee under the chairmanship of Minister Rowan Cronje was established to assist the Chief of the BDF in dealing with welfare and social issues, since these were considered to be the most important sources of the dissatisfaction which had contributed to the coup attempt. Minister Cronje subsequently took over the defence portfolio in 1991.
On 11 March 1994, following a request from President Mangope for assistance from the Afrikaner Volksfront, hundreds of Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) members unlawfully entered Bophuthatswana from South Africa, to "help" restore control in the face of a strike by civil servants, resulting in 42 residents of Mafikeng killed and three AWB members shot dead by a Bophuthatswana Police sergeant.
The unrest ended when SADF was officially requested to assist in restoring safety and security, by General Turner (Chief of BDF). The request was done as per security agreement between the BDF and SADF. Bophuthatswana was then soon thereafter placed under the control of the South African government.
Shortly afterwards, Mangope was removed from power and a temporary administrator was put in place by the South African Transitional Executive Council[3]
On 19 December 1994, the Bophuthatswana Defence Force Parachute Battalion at Gopane was placed under operational command of 2 SSB, as part of the founding of the SANDF. 2 SSB withdrew simultaneously from Nietverdiend and Nooitgedacht. From August 1994 to 15 June 1995 successful bridging training was provided for 550 formerly non-statutory force members.
↑ "Bophuthatswana Defence Force". SA Artillery | Military Defense Security Intelligence Politics. 20 January 2017. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
↑ Reichardt, Markus and Cilliers, Jakkie. (1995). “The History of the Homeland Armies” in About Turn: The Transformation of the South African Military and Intelligence, Jakkie Cilliers and Markus Reichardt, eds. Cape Town, Institute for Defence Policy, p. 70.
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