South African Commando System The South African Commando System was a voluntary , part - time force of the South African Army , but served under the South African Police Service . Mission . Commandos were responsible for the safeguarding and protection of a specific community ( usually rural but sometimes urban ) . Commando services are usually referred to as area protection , a system which involves the whole community . The participants in the Commando system do not have military commitments outside of the areas they serve , and are responsible for the safety and security of their own communities . Each community is divided up into smaller more manageable sections called cells . Each cell comprises a number of farmers and or households , depending on the size of the area and dispersion of the area ’ s inhabitants . Cell members are in contact with each other by means of telephone or a radio system which serves as a backup communication system in the event of the telephone lines being out of order . Alternative communication systems are therefore a vital element of the protection plan of any cell . The cell members have a communication link with their cell leader ( who is elected by the members ) who , in turns , has a communication link with the local police station . This ensures quick reaction by the police in the event of an attack . The cell leader can notify the local Commando if a stronger force is required . This process of communication is time - consuming and , therefore , the members of a cell should be able to protect themselves and rely on support from neighbours and other members of the cell to ensure immediate response in an emergency . For this reason a cell must plan for certain contingencies before they happen . The local Commando will assist the cells with drawing up contingency plans . History . The Commando system existed since the 1770s . The early Boer Commando system was a conscriptive service designed to provide a quickly - trained fighting force . Commandos were a product of the First Boer War during which the fiercely independent Boers had no regular army . When danger threatened , all the men in a district would form a militia organised into military units called commandos and would elect officers . Being civilian militia , each man wore what they wished , usually everyday neutral or earthtone khaki farming clothes such as a jacket , trousers and slouch hat . Each man brought his own weapon , usually a hunting rifle , and his own horses . The average Boer citizens who made up their commandos were farmers who had spent almost all their working life in the saddle , and because they had to depend on both their horse and their rifle for almost all of their meat , they were skilled hunters and expert marksmen . Most of the Boers had single - shot breech loading rifle such as the Westley Richards , the Martini - Henry , or the Remington Rolling Block . Only a few had repeaters like the Winchester or the Swiss Vetterli . As hunters they had learned to fire from cover , from a prone position and to make the first shot count , knowing that if they missed the game would be long gone . At community gatherings , target shooting was a major sport and competitions used targets such as hens eggs perched on posts 100 yards away . The commandos became expert light cavalry , making use of every scrap of cover , from which they could pour an accurate and destructive fire at the British with their breech loading rifles which could be rapidly aimed , fired , and reloaded . After the declaration of peace in 1902 , the commandos were disbanded . They did reform themselves in clandestine " shooting clubs " . In 1912 , the commandos were reformed as an Active Citizen Force in the Union Defence Force . This system was in operation until in February 2003 , President Mbeki announced the disbanding of the commando system over six years , to be replaced by ' specialised police units ' . The Democratic Alliance has stated that this action is a ' total disaster ' . It ' s spokesman , Armiston Watson said that " the disbanding of the rural commandos ( announced by the government in 2003 ) was an irresponsible political move which now leaves all farmers and farm workers defenceless and easy targets for criminals . " Agri SA Chairman Kiewiet Ferreira , a farmer in the central Free State Province town of Harrismith said : " We need commandos , and we see them as one of the backbones of the rural protection plan , without a doubt " He also pointed out that , in 1998 , former President Nelson Mandela included the commandos in a rural security plan , and " encouraged farmers , especially white farmers , to join the commandos and help in rural protection " . " If you [ take into account ] how many operations commandos have been involved in , under the police - more than 50 , 000 operations in 2001 and 37 , 000 operations in 2002 ( most of them road - blockades , foot patrols , vehicle patrols , farm visits , manning of observation posts ) - that ' s nearly 90 , 000 operations in two years , " Ferreira said . Structure . At least during the Second Boer War each commando was attached to a town , after which it was named ( e . g . Bloemfontein Commando ) . Each town was responsible for a district , divided into wards . The Commando was commanded by a Kommandant and each ward by a " Veldkornet " or fieldcornet - equavilent of a senior NCO rank . The Veldkornet was responsible not only for calling up the burgher s , but also for policing his ward , collecting taxes , issuing firearms and other material in times of war . Theoretically , a ward was divided into corporalships . A corporalship was usually made up of about 20 burghers . Sometimes entire families filled a corporalship . The Veldkornet was responsible to the Kommandant , who in turn was responsible to a General . In theory , a General was responsible for four commandos . He in turn was Responsible to the Commander - in - Chief ( CIC ) of the Republic . In the Transvaal , the CIC was called the Commandant - General and in the Free State the " Hoofdkommandant " or Chief Commandant . The CIC was responsible to the President . Other auxiliary ranks were created in war time , such as " Vleiskorporaal " ( " meat corporal " ) , responsible for issuing rations . " The farmer - commandos receive a few weekends of training as army reservists and are each given an assault rifle . When they respond to an incident , the police do , too . But the police force is stretched thin in farm areas , trying to cover vast areas with few officers or vehicles . The farmers often get there much sooner . " The retirement age of members of the commandos is 65 though it can be extended to 75 years . In a document called : Ploughing in Resources - The Investigation of Farm Attacks it says : Disbandment . The system was phased out between 2003 and 2008 “ because of the role it played in the apartheid era ” , according to the Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula . In 2005 then - Minister of Defence Mousioua Lekota explained that the process was " driven partly to counter racist elements within some of commandos , but also because of constitutional issues . " This followed growing pressure after incidents of ongoing abuse of power were reported . The last commando unit , that at Harrismith in the Free State , was disbanded in March 2008 . At their peak 186 of these units , ranging in size from a company to a battalion , existed . The number of individual commando members varied according to different sources , but it is estimated that there were between 50 , 000 and 70 , 000 . Weaponry . From the early days up until the present , the commandos were issued with firearms by the government of the day . The burghers were obliged to keep these firearms serviceable and ready at all times .