Defence and Military Veterans Minister Angie Motshekga must work to turn the defence force around, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) maintains, and will fully support the new minister if she does so – otherwise the party will be a fierce opponent.
This was the gist of the 15 July budget vote debate speech delivered by Carl Niehaus – EFF permanent representative on the Portfolio Committee of Defence and Military Veterans.
Addressing Parliamentarians, he said his party opposes the current defence budget, as the 2024/25 allocation of R51.8 billion amounts to a R50 billion shortfall, with “disastrous” consequences.
“The Department of Defence cannot meet its constitutional mandate to defend and protect our country. While our national safety is compromised, the president is still deploying SANDF [South African National Defence Force] troops in Mozambique and the DRC [Democratic Republic of Congo]. This while our troops are not resourced and their safety cannot be guaranteed. They are callously deployed to fail and die,” Niehaus affirmed.
“Recently two SANDF soldiers were killed and twenty seriously injured in the DRC. We must immediately withdraw our troops. Instead, the President wants to deploy a further 2 900 SANDF troops in the DRC. The butcher of Marikane now continues to send our soldiers to be butchered. The EFF will not approve such callousness. The ministry’s lack of focus on core priorities is staggering. Instead of our military should be given a clear mandate to stop the movement of guns across our borders.
“As for the Department of Military Veterans, it is in administrative shambles. It cannot provide any of the eleven benefits that the military veterans are entitled to in terms of the Military Veterans Act.”
Niehaus said he has made a commitment to visit facilities such as Thaba Tshwane and others where military infrastructure is dilapidated “to show South Africa that our soldiers are reduced to guards and cleaners.”
He said it is critically important that if the Minister is prepared to work for a turnaround that she will find in the EFF a willing partner. However, if not, “she will encounter in us an implacable opponent.”
