The decline of South Africa’s defence industry

Abstract

The growth of South Africa’s apartheid era defence industry was propelled by international isolation following the 1984 UN arms embargo and revealed military technology deficiencies during the border war. Weapons innovation became an imperative, fostering development of frontier technologies and upgrades of legacy platforms that drove expansion in arms exports. However, this golden era was not to last. The 1994 election of the country’s first democratic government switched resources from military to human security. The resultant defence-industrial stagnation continues to this day, exacerbated by corruption, unethical sales, and government mismanagement. The industry’s survival into the 2020s cannot be assured.