4 South African Infantry Battalion (4 SAI) was a unit of the South African Infantry Corps established on January 1, 1962, at Voortrekkerhoogte in Pretoria, but was moved to Middelburg, in the old Transvaal a month later.
The first troops began training in April 1962 and the unit became an operational motorised unit in 1969. 4 SAI converted to a mechanised infantry battalion mainly consisting of Ratel-20 IFVs in 1982. The unit was deployed as a mixed force comprising of two companies of mechanised infantry, an artillery battery, and an armoured car squadron, with support company and attached elements, and later even a tank squadron was attached.
It was very successfully deployed as an independent battle group (62 Mechanised Infantry Battalion Group) during the Operations Moduler, Hooper and Displace and Prone battles of 1987/88. 4 SAI reverted to a motorised infantry unit after 1994.
