South African navy appoints first black commodores

The South African (SA) Navy has appointed the first black commodores - the equivalent of brigadiers in the army - who are to become the highest-ranking black members in the navy's history, the South African news agency SAPA reported on Friday.

A statement said Brigadier J Mudimu and Brigadier MH Magalefa would be transferred from the army to the navy on Monday.

Mudimu was in charge of integrating the African National Congress' military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe, into the defence force.

Magalefa was a senior member of the Pan Africanist Congress military wing, the Azanian Peoples Liberation Army.

"Their appointment to the management echelon of the SA Navy is a further step in the representivity programme of the SA Navy," the statement said.

Both officers are to undergo intensive naval training over the next two years.

In the meantime, Mudimu and Magalefa are being appointed Inspector General in the navy and Chief of Naval Staff intelligence respectively, the agency said.

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.