The South African Navy and Air Force have, due to a lack of maintenance and funding, seen key assets become less productive, resulting in a decline in time at sea and hours flown. This has resulted in a Navy and Air Force that are hardly operational, the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) has said.
SCOPA’s comments come after receiving a briefing on 19 November from the Auditor General (AG) on the 2023/24 financial year audit outcomes of the Department of Defence (DoD) and the Department of Military Veterans (DMV) as well as Denel.
On the decline in hours flown by the SA Air Force (SAAF) and hours spent at sea by the SA Navy, the AG presentation to SCOPA has it this impacted on training and development with the loss of aircrew currency in the Air Force. Not achieving these – and other – targets points to deteriorating capabilities.
“The SA Navy and SA Air Force have seen a decline in the number of hours their key assets have been productive, with vessels spending 2 641.47 hours at sea in 2023-24 from a high of 11 081.7 in 2013-14 and aircraft flying a total of 711.9 hours for force employment in 2023-24 from a high of 11 696.71 in 2012-13,” the Auditor General noted.
In the 2023/24 financial year, the Air Force only flew 6 904 hours instead of the target of 12 000 per year and the Navy spent 2 641 hours at sea instead of the 8 000 targeted hours, as set out in its annual performance plan. The decline in the available budget to make repairs and maintenance on the existing vessels and aircraft is one of the root causes for failure to meet the targets, which has resulted in a Navy and Air Force that is hardly operational, SCOPA said in a statement following the Auditor General briefing.
“The decline in available capabilities has had an impact on training and development, with several aircrew staff losing their currencies. The decline can be attributable to the reduction in Armscor Dockyard’s capacity as well as the challenges at Denel, which have led to a significant increase in their backlog,” the Auditor General found.
Missing targets mean the DoD, through the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), “might not meet its obligations to SADC [Southern African Development Community] and the maritime borders of the Republic might not be secure, resulting in increased illicit activities in the country’s sea border.”
At year-end, 62.5% of SANDF commitments were unfunded. This includes the deployment of SANDF personnel to the SADC mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo through Operation Thiba, the AG pointed out.
Reserve force utilisation (3.2 million achieved in 2023/24 vs 1.9 million planned) exceeded the planned reserve force man-days due to an increase in capacity to support current military operations and protection.
“The lack of funding and the deteriorating state of the department’s capabilities was evidenced in the non-achievement of planned targets on the number of flying hours and the number of sea hours. Procurement delays for prime mission equipment, such as drones and troop packs, that can be used as a force multiplier for border safeguarding continue to negatively impact the effective service delivery of border controls. Given the decline in available air capabilities, the department has had to charter private aircraft to meet some of its day-to-day activities,” the AG presentation said.
After these and other concerning findings, SCOPA said it will call Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Angie Motshekga to respond.
