 CHIEF
OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL DEFENCE FORCE
GENERAL G.N. NGWENYA
General Godfrey Nhlanhla Ngwenya was born in
Johannesburg on 28th April 1950. He attended
Orlando High School where he matriculated in
1970. From 1971 to 1976 he was employed by the
then West Rand Administration Board (WRAB) as a
Grade 1 Clerk. He is married to Busisiwe Portia
and they are blessed with two sons Lungile and
Duma, and a daughter Ntombikayise.
He joined the ANC and ANC’s Military Wing,
Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), at the height of a
student uprising in South Africa in 1976, being
motivated by the brutality meted out on the
students. This, he witnessed at firsthand while
working as a senior clerk at the then
Baragwanath Hospital where he got sick and tired
of watching children being butchered.
While in exile he underwent military training
in Angola and received his further Commander’s
Courses in the then German Democratic Republic
(GDR) and Soviet Union (USSR). Within MK,
General Ngwenya rose through the ranks and held
the following appointments:
1. 1978 – 1979: Military Instructor.
2. 1979 – 1981: Camp Chief of Staff at
various camps in Angola.
3. 1981 – 1983: Company Commander at various
camps in Angola.
4. 1983 – 1988: In command of all MK Forces
in Angola.
5. 1988 – 1991: Member of the National
Executive Committee of the ANC
as well as MK HQ.
6. 1991 – 1994: MK’s Chief of Personnel and
Training at the MK Army HQ.
7. 1994: Integrated with the former SADF to
form the SANDF and held the
following posts.
- 1994 – 1996. Appointed as Major General
and served as Deputy General Officer
Commanding of the then Witwatersrand
Command.
- 1996 – 1998. After completing Joint
Staff Course at the Defence College he was
appointed as General Officer Commanding of
the then Northwest Command in Potchefstroom.
- 1998 –1999. Appointed as Chief Director
Force Preparation for Chief Army Directorate
Force Preparation at Army HQ Office.
- Jan 2001 – May 2005. Appointed as Chief
of Joint Operations with promotion to the
rank of Lieutenant General on 1 January
2001.
- 01 Jun 2005 to date. Appointed as Chief
of the South African National Defence Force
with the promotion to the rank of General. Since the establishment of the SANDF in 1994
General Ngwenya has attended the Orientation
Course for officers, the Senior Army Staff
Course (1996) and the Joint Staff Course (1998)
General Ngwenya was awarded with Merit Medal
in Silver (MMS). | 
