South African Army Training Formation

South African Army Training Formation
SANDF Army Training Formation emblem
Active	1999 to date
Country	South Africa
Allegiance	South African Army
Branch	South African Army
Type	Military Training
Part of	South African Army

The South African Army Training Formation is the controlling entity of all South African Army training units. The Formation was established in April 1999 and mandated to provide, maintain and sustain landward common training to the SA Army.

The Dutch East India Company in 1786 established a training centre in South Africa for military cadets, from the local population. However, the school did not reach the stage where it functioned properly, owing to the financial difficulties and eventual collapse of the Dutch East India Company.

After Union in 1910, Chapter IV of the South Africa Defence Act, 1912, made provision for the South African Military College. In the Annual Reports of the Department of Defence and Executive Commands for the year ended 30 June 1913, the College was referred to as "an institution or group of institutions, known as the South African Military Schools." The report added that the institution ".At first the only branches of the College which were in existence were:

The S.A. Military School was established on 1 July 1912 at the Old Presidency in Bloemfontein. On the same date, a class of 51 officers assembled there to attend a course. The Old Presidency had been selected to accommodate the Military School until such time as buildings, which were more suitable, became available at Tempe. On 1 April 1913, the S.A. School of Musketry was opened at Tempe and the first course, for rifle instructors, began on the 13th of that month. The School of Musketry later became the nucleus of the Weapon Training Branch of the College.

The arrangement, whereby the schools were situated a distance from each other, proved to be impractical. As a result, the various training establishments in the Bloemfontein area were transferred to Tempe on 1 January 1914 and placed under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel P. C. B. Skinner. It was composed of:

Following the outbreak of the First World War, the establishment at Tempe was closed and the staff transferred to the mobilisation camp at Potchefstroom early in 1915. During the war years, they were employed in training specialists and volunteers for service with the overseas contingents.

In 1920, the College was re-established in the now familiar stone building at Roberts Heights (now Thaba Tshwane) and designated the South African Military School. Colonel W. E. C. Tanner, CB, CMG, DSO, was the Commandant.

On re-establishment, the School consisted of the "G' Branch, the Musketry Branch, the Signals Branch and a Training Depot. After March 1920, the real development of the College took place. By June of that year, military training was in full swing.

In 1923, a significant step was taken when 12 cadets commenced a course for commissions in the South African Permanent Force. As a result, college status could not be withheld from the Military School and, on 1 July 1924, it became the South African Military College. A second course for Permanent Force cadets began on 6 August 1924. Another course for Army cadets of the Permanent Force commenced in 1929. This course was amalgamated with an Air Force cadet course early in 1930, after it had been decided that cadets would in future receive combined training for service in the Infantry, Artillery and the Air Force. This training system continued until the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939.