Defence and Military Veterans Minister Angie Motshekga wants the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to have upgraded prime mission equipment and is engaging with National Treasury in this regard.
This was one of the key points Motshekga made during her maiden defence and military veterans budget vote in Parliament on Monday 15 July.
“It is common knowledge that the SANDF needs to upgrade its prime mission equipment. We are robustly engaging with the National Treasury on a common way to meet the Defence Force’s medium-term Capital budget, including the vital repair and maintenance of critical Prime Mission Equipment and the exploitation of evolving technologies,” she said in her speech.
Out of the R51.8 billion budgeted for the 2024/25 financial year, R500 million has been dedicated for the procurement of protective personnel vehicles and technology for border safeguarding; and R441 million has been allocated for the repair and maintenance of Naval Defence Systems to enhance maritime patrols.
“Initiatives must also be embarked upon to reposition some aspects of the defence industry as a foundation for a different and better future. In terms of the Soldier-First principle, our soldiers must be better off. The need for practical solutions has now become operationally urgent, including the need to adjust appropriately to the changing nature of the battlefield, with an enhanced focus on imminent technologies,” Motshekga said.
“There is an increasing requirement for the rapid modification or application of commercial technologies for military-use; which implies a reconceptualisation of the role that Armscor plays in Research and Technology Development,” the minister added.
Money has also been allocated for facilities upgrades, with R2.6 billion for obligations to Department of Public Works and Infrastructure for lease payments, assessment rates, refurbishment, maintenance and repairs and municipal services, which the Department of Defence is managing on its own. R300 million has also been allocated for day-to-day maintenance and emergency repairs for our facilities by the Department of Defence.
“In this, the 30th anniversary both of the fully democratic South Africa and of the South African National Defence Force, it is important to ensure that we have a fully functioning, modern and capable Defence Force more now than at any other time in the last three decades. The threats we face, both internally and externally are manifest. As I alluded to in my preamble, the world we live in is vastly different to the one that our founding fathers bequeathed us in 1994. Our expectations of what we need the SANDF to do have risen exponentially and accordingly,” Motshekga said.
Motshekga told Parliament the Department of Defence was bringing plans and proposals that need its support. One of these is a review of certain key chapters of the Defence Review 2015. “I am reliably informed that during discussions by my predecessor with the Commander-in-Chief in January this year, the Department is hard at work finalising this task. In all of this, we have agreed with the Military Command upon a soldier-first principle in this work. This will also include a Military Strategy and an Interim Force Design aligned to government funding and objectives. I will be engaging with Cabinet and the parliamentary defence committees on this work.”
