{"id":293862,"date":"2019-01-16T18:00:15","date_gmt":"2019-01-16T16:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=293862"},"modified":"2019-01-16T17:25:54","modified_gmt":"2019-01-16T15:25:54","slug":"heres-what-it-takes-to-join-south-africas-army-in-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/293862\/heres-what-it-takes-to-join-south-africas-army-in-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Here&#8217;s what it takes to join South Africa&#8217;s army in 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Western Cape government recently <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.westerncape.gov.za\/general-publication\/military-skills-development-system-msds\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">published<\/a> <\/strong>an outline of the requirements for joining the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).<\/p>\n<p>According to the outline, one of the most common ways to currently enter the SANDF is through the\u00a0Military Skills Development System (MSDS).<\/p>\n<p>The MSDS is a Department of Defence programme that\u00a0serves as the entry-level platform for young South Africans who want to follow a career in the SANDF.<\/p>\n<p>Under the\u00a0MSDS, new recruits undergo an initial period of two\u00a0years of\u00a0voluntary service.<\/p>\n<p>In the first year, you will receive military training and further functional training. In the second year, you will be deployed as per the SANDF&#8217;s operational requirements.<\/p>\n<p>After the two years,\u00a0you will either continue as part of the Reserve Force or receive a contract offer to join the Regular Force.<\/p>\n<p>Selected members with the required academic qualifications may also be sent to universities or the military\u00a0academy.<\/p>\n<p>MSDS members will receive wages for the duration of their two-year full-time training and utilisation.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to BusinessTech an SANDF spokesperson said that they were unable to provide exact salary information regarding the MSDS programme due to the high number of scams targeting prospective trainees.<\/p>\n<p>In October 2018 the SANDF warned that scams were targeting vulnerable youth through various social media platforms.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The public is warned to ignore and report these fraudulent activities instigated by faceless charlatans aimed at swindling unsuspecting and vulnerable youth of their money,&#8221; it said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Requirements for the MSDS programme<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To qualify for the MSDS programme, you should:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Be a South African citizen;<\/li>\n<li>Be aged between 18 and 22 years (graduates up to the age of 26 years);<\/li>\n<li>Be currently busy with the National Senior Certificate (Grade 12) or have completed it;<\/li>\n<li>Not be area-bound;<\/li>\n<li>Have no record of a criminal offence;<\/li>\n<li>Preferably be single;<\/li>\n<li>Comply with medical fitness requirements for appointment in the South African National Defence Force;<\/li>\n<li>Be prepared to do basic military training, functional training and to serve in uniform.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There are a number of additional specialised requirements for citizens looking to enter the\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.saairforce.co.za\/recruitment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">South African Air Force (SAAF)<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.navy.mil.za\/SANCareers\/MSD_programme.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Navy (SAN)<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and the\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mhs.mil.za\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Military Health Service (SAMHS)<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As noted above, there is also a clear distinction in the type of training you will receive over your two years of voluntary service:<\/p>\n<p>In the first year of MSDS you can expect:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Basic military training and functional training;<\/li>\n<li>Corps-specific training;<\/li>\n<li>Participation in practical military exercises;<\/li>\n<li>Combat-ready training exercises;<\/li>\n<li>Selection of junior leaders.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In the second year of MSDS you can expect:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>To undergo young officers formative training;<\/li>\n<li>Junior leaders (officers) will receive leader group corps training;<\/li>\n<li>A selection process for officers to study at the Military Academy;<\/li>\n<li>A focus on the utilisation and deployment of MSDS troops.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Speaking to BusinessTech an SANDF spokesperson said that they were unable to provide exact salary information regarding the MSDS programme due to the high number of scams targeting prospective trainees.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong> Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/293698\/saps-urges-south-africans-to-apply-for-jobs-before-friday\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SAPS urges South Africans to apply for jobs before Friday<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Western Cape government recently published an outline of the requirements for joining the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":293866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-293862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293862"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":293890,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293862\/revisions\/293890"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}