HARARE — Zimbabwe’s military continues to be regarded as one of the more capable armed forces in Southern Africa, retaining a degree of regional credibility despite a prolonged decline in operational capacity driven by underfunding, economic instability and the impact of international sanctions, defence analysts say.
According to defence and security publication DefenceWeb, the Zimbabwe Defence Force (ZDF) remains a structured, disciplined and professional institution, benefiting from a long tradition of conventional military training and regional operational experience that still distinguishes it within the sub-region.
Zimbabwe, a landlocked country, maintains a two-service military comprising the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) and the Air Force of Zimbabwe (AFZ). The ZDF fields an estimated 29,000 active-duty personnel, supported by approximately 21,800 paramilitary and auxiliary forces. While these numbers place Zimbabwe below the region’s largest militaries, analysts note that manpower alone does not fully capture comparative capability.
In regional terms, South Africa’s South African National Defence Force (SANDF) remains the most advanced military in Southern Africa, with superior air, naval and technological capabilities, a domestic defence-industrial base, and experience in peacekeeping and expeditionary operations. However, DefenceWeb and other analysts have observed that the SANDF itself has been affected by budget cuts, ageing equipment and declining readiness, narrowing the qualitative gap between South Africa and several regional peers, including Zimbabwe.
By contrast, Angola possesses one of the region’s largest and best-equipped forces, underpinned by oil revenues that have enabled sustained investment in heavy armour, air defence systems and combat aircraft, largely sourced from Russia and other Eastern suppliers. Angola’s military strength, however, is primarily oriented towards internal security and strategic deterrence rather than regional power projection.
Within this landscape, Zimbabwe’s military continues to compare favourably with Zambia and Mozambique, particularly in terms of conventional warfare training, command structure and institutional discipline. Zambia’s armed forces, while professional and politically stable, are smaller in scale and primarily focused on border security, disaster response and peacekeeping roles rather than high-intensity combat operations.
Mozambique’s military, meanwhile, has struggled to develop comparable conventional capabilities, relying heavily on foreign military assistance and private security contractors to address the ongoing insurgency in Cabo Delgado. Analysts say this dependence highlights structural weaknesses in training, logistics and command cohesion that Zimbabwe’s forces, despite material shortages, have largely avoided.
DefenceWeb notes that Zimbabwe’s relative standing in the region is rooted in its legacy of professional military education, experienced officer corps and historically strong ground-force doctrine, developed during earlier periods of higher defence spending and operational engagement. However, the publication cautions that this advantage has been steadily eroded over the past two decades.
“Zimbabwe’s armed forces remain organised and professional, but their effective combat readiness has declined due to ageing equipment, maintenance challenges and constrained procurement options,” DefenceWeb reported, adding that Western sanctions have “severely limited access to spare parts and modern platforms, particularly affecting the air force.”
The Air Force of Zimbabwe has been among the hardest hit, with several aircraft reportedly grounded because of maintenance backlogs and shortages of critical components. Similar constraints affect armoured vehicles, artillery systems and communications equipment within the army, reducing the force’s ability to conduct sustained or technologically sophisticated operations.
Despite these challenges, Zimbabwe has partially offset capability gaps through defence cooperation with China, which has provided training, equipment and limited technical support. While Chinese assistance has not fully compensated for decades of constrained investment, it has enabled the ZDF to preserve basic operational functionality and training standards.
Economic volatility has further undermined long-term defence planning. Sharp fluctuations in real-term defence spending have disrupted procurement cycles, while low remuneration has accelerated the retirement and attrition of skilled personnel, including pilots, engineers and senior non-commissioned officers. This has had a cumulative impact on institutional memory and technical expertise.
Zimbabwe’s domestic defence manufacturing sector has also deteriorated. The once-operational Zimbabwe Defence Industries (ZDI) has struggled amid capital shortages, skills erosion and restricted access to global supply chains. DefenceWeb notes that the partial easing of select sanctions has prompted renewed discussion around a possible revival of ZDI, though analysts caution that any recovery would be incremental and dependent on sustained policy and funding support.
Even so, regional security experts argue that the ZDF continues to occupy a middle tier position within Southern Africa’s military hierarchy—below South Africa and Angola in material capability, but broadly comparable to, or stronger than, several neighbouring forces in terms of organisation, doctrine and professionalism.
“Although diminished, Zimbabwe’s military remains a significant actor within the Southern African security environment,” DefenceWeb observed. “Its institutional foundations and regional experience continue to command respect, even as material constraints limit its operational reach.”
As regional security challenges evolve—from insurgency and organised crime to climate-driven instability—analysts say Zimbabwe’s future military relevance will depend less on legacy reputation and more on whether it can stabilise defence funding, modernise selectively and retain skilled personnel in an increasingly competitive regional security landscape.
