Defence Web posted on 4 November 2025 an article titled "Chinese Involvement in SA Defence Infrastructure Compared to Projects Kgala and Thusano."
An opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) representative has called out the South African ANC-led government for seeking China's technical help at the sensitive De Brug Army Mobilisation Centre. He charged the Chinese assistance at the clandestine facility lacks transparency and likened it to some earlier technical help from Cuba.
South Africa's Centre for Investigative Journalism, amaBhungane, published on 14 December 2021 an article titled "Beijing's Soft Power: China Offers 300,000 Vaccine Jabs to SANDF Soldiers" by Tebogo Tshwane.
China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) has offered 300,000 free doses of the CoronaVac inoculation manufactured by Sinovac to the South African Defence Force (SANDF). The donation is part of a soft-power push by Beijing for global influence. Yet the South African military denies any plans to roll out the Chinese vaccines. South Africa's vaccine program consists of one manufactured by Pfizer and the other by Johnson and Johnson. The South African Health Products Authority has not approved CoronaVac as part of the national program.
china-africa relations
