No great surprise that the SANDF faces such a crossroads when you consider the budget allocated, manpower, external and internal demands:
South Africa wants to re-establish itself militarily as an important player in Africa's peacekeeping initiatives. But it has to overcome a small budget, and its own needs to police its borders, to move it from a 'critical state of decline.'
Link:http://news.yahoo.com/once-major-con...63100590.html?

Going back awhile now:
At its peak, the apartheid military had more than 100,000 active conscripts, and consumed 4.4 percent of national GDP, making it one of Africa’s largest and best trained fighting forces.

(Today) South African military spending today stands at just 1.2 percent of its GDP, an Army of more than 40,000 troops.
There is a link to an earlier report, some of the comments are interesting:http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.ph...nce&Itemid=242