Sergeant Major of the Air Force

For the American equivalent, see Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force.

Sergeant Major of the South African Air Force
Incumbent Matinatima Klaas Mofomme since 31 May 2022
South African Air Force
Type	Senior enlisted advisor
Reports to	Chief of the Air Force
Formation	December 1979
First holder	WO1 A. C. Symonds

The sergeant major of the South African Air Force is the most senior warrant officer. The post was created in 1979. It is a singular appointment, held by only one person at any time. The sergeant major of the Air Force reports to the chief of the Air Force and is responsible for maintaining discipline.

Rank and insignia

See also: South African military ranks

Before 2008, all sergeant majors of the Air Force were warrant officer class 1, with appointment to the position of sergeant major. In 2008, the SANDF expanded the warrant officer ranks and the sergeant major of the Air Force now holds the rank of senior chief warrant officer. ^[1]

Before 2002, the sergeant major of the Air Force had a unique rank insignia, consisting of a warrant officer class 1 insignia with the South African Air Force badge above it. Following the warrant officer rank redesign, the sergeant major of the Air Force does not have a unique rank insignia.

List of officeholders

No.	Portrait	Name (born–died)	Term of office			Ref.
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		WO1 A. C. Symonds	December 1979	September 1981	1 year, 9 months	[2] [ better source needed ]
2		WO1 Barry Kemp	1 October 1981	January 1988	6 years, 3 months	[2] [ better source needed ]
3		WO1 S. G. Oberholzer	February 1988	October 1990	2 years, 8 months	[2] [ better source needed ]
4		WO1 S. J. Mountjoy	November 1990	January 1994	3 years, 2 months	[2] [ better source needed ]
5		WO1 Cor Nortje	February 1994	February 2000	6 years	[3]
6		WO1 Paul Nel	March 2000	30 October 2002	2 years, 7 months	[3]
7		SCWO S. J. Du Preez	1 November 2002	October 2008	5 years, 11 months	[3]
8		SCWO Lefu Daniel Tshabalala	October 2008	November 2018	10 years, 1 month	[4]
9		SCWO Colin Stanton-Jones	1 December 2018	May 2022	6 years, 5 months	[5] [ failed verification ]
10		SCWO Matinatima Klaas Mofomme	31 May 2022	Incumbent	2 years, 11 months	[6]

See also

• South African Air Force
• South African military ranks

References

1. "Fact file: Comparative military and civil service grades". 15 March 2010.
2. Kemp, Neville. unpublised manuscript.
3. "SA Soldier Transformation Edition" (PDF). SA Soldier. 21 (11): 30. December 2014.
4. Ramaboea, Lebogang. "SAAF inaugurates new SMAF". South African Air Force. Archived from the original on 19 March 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
5. "New commander for 515 Squadron". 12 March 2020. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
6. SA National Defence Force [@SANDF_ZA] (2 June 2022). "Senior Chief Warrant Officer Matinatima Klaas Mofomme took over the reins as the Warrant Officer of the SA Air Force in a colourful military parade held at Swartkop West in Pretoria on 31 May 2022" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 2 June 2022. Retrieved 11 October 2022– via Twitter.