ctions in South Africa, a peacekeeping force was needed to prevent possible riots and civil disobedience. The government was reluctant to put the SADF in charge of this because of fears that the military would not uphold the law, but rather riot themselves, in protest of the elections. A peacekeeping force of 10,000 men was put together but failed to curb the violence in South Africa and was quickly replaced by the SADF (Griffiths 400).The combination of knowing that a coup would be impossible and disastrous and the fact that the SADF is held accountable for its actions by the South African Parliament kept the military from interfering in a negative way with the elections (Griffiths 401 - 406). As a result of prior planning and smart leadership, the SADF successfully controlled the citizens and helped in the transition towards democracy. Despite what might look like a successful and complete change in civil-military policy, the SADF still has many problems that need to be addressed. “The complex network of security structures established under apartheid, diffused power throughout the defense establishment, making it more difficult to assure the security forces’ compliance with the transition goals” (Griffiths 400). Additionally, the system that is setup as a check by the parliament on military power is not as efficient as it might seem. During P.W. Botha’s, rule the military gained a large amount of leeway in terms of what it could do (Griffiths 401). The members of parliament responsible for questioning the actions of the SADF never fully utilized their power as a result of a lack of knowledge of the subject and were content with taking the explanations offered to them, as opposed to doing research on their own (Griffiths 401). The last major issue the army faced was that of racial integration. Many white soldiers and high-ranking officers had been in the army for many years during apartheid and as a result were...
