By Brian Austin (Major (ret’d) SACS CF 1963-1984) -
The South African Corps of Signals (SACS) was formally constituted on 1st November 1923. So, it’ll be commemorating its centenary this year. This followed a letter of concern, written in February 1919 by Col. A.J. Brink, Chief of the General Staff, to the Secretary of Defence pointing out that “There is no Signal Company on our approved Establishment of Units of Combatant Arms and Departmental Services”. He suggested that the Department of Posts and Telegraphs would be the ideal source of suitably trained personnel. The new Corps, Brink proposed, would be part of the Citizen Force (CF), the South African equivalent of Britain’s Territorials (the Reserve Force of today).
On 9 November 1923, the Postmaster-General – a part-time serving soldier – Colonel Sturman, took command of signals units scattered across South Africa’s major town and cities.
Its colours were those of the Royal Corp of Signals and Jimmy was its emblem. However, given the volatility of politics in South Africa throughout the country’s history, some things were to change. Following the surprise victory of the Nationalists in the general election of 1948, which saw the ousting of Field Marshal Smuts, the Union Defence Force (UDF) soon felt the hand of the new government’s officialdom. The UDF was seen to be “too British” in its orientation, its uniforms and especially its emblems. First to go were all the crowns that sat atop regimental badges and in their colours. So, the SACS Jimmy became, effectively, bare-headed. However, the light blue, dark blue and green colour scheme – full of meaning and significance in terms of the domains where radio signals existed – survived unscathed until the early 1970s. Then their order was altered. All of a sudden green appeared at the top with light blue below and dark blue at the bottom. Remarkably no one seemed to notice, or at least not at the level of the Director of Signals! When queried, many years later, both cock up and conspiracy were suggested as the reason for the scrambling of the colours. There was, though, the suggestion that the State Herald objected to two “dark” colours being adjacent to one another, so light blue was made to separate the dark blue of the sea from the green of the land. And geography, if nothing else, was turned on its head.
That unique order of colours within the Signals family of nations remains to this day. The new government dispensation in South African, presumably unaware of the discombobulation, left things as they found them in 1994. And Certa Cito still stands proud.