Underfunding of the South African Department of Defence (DoD) has turned the defence force into a ‘drill squad with no capacity’ and an extended budget is needed to rebuild the military, the uMkhonto weSize (MK) party maintains.
The party’s Muzi Ntshingila, speaking during freshly appointed defence minister Angie Motshekga’s maiden budget vote in Parliament on 15 July, said that a chronic shortfall of funding has reduced the DoD to “a drill squad with no capacity to ensure human security, to facilitate peace, development, and human rights” and appealed for “an extended budget for maintenance and replacement of the DoD’s ageing fleet, to modernise its defence, maritime and air force fleets and equipment, and also to fund research and development”.
He said the reduction of the defence budget to less than 2% of GDP as is common in most countries was “unpatriotic and counterrevolutionary,” and a misalignment between realistic requirements and the budget has led to inefficiencies. “There’s an urgent need for more realistic budget planning to ensure effective utilisations of allocated funds,” Ntshingila added.
Speaking of the R51 billion budget allocation for defence, Ntshingila stated that, “Umkhonto we Wizwe party does not support this vote.”
He reminded members that the budget vote “implicates the work of four ministries: the Home Affairs portfolio which is responsible for border management and immigration; the Police Ministry which is tasked with crime intelligence function, and the intelligence portfolio in the Presidency. “It is disturbing to observe the disintegration of the defence budget by the departments of Intelligence, Police, and Home Affairs instead of developing one budget for national security,” he said.
“The budget and the work of this Department is compromised by its shared mandate with the aforesaid ministries. Thus, it has progressively failed to fight security breaches such as the illegal invasion of South African borders by illegal immigrants, zama zamas and criminals. The SANDF border capacity is in shambles and many foreign nationals enter our ports of entry with little difficulty. This has led to social dislocation in our country.
“We are appealing for an extended budget for maintenance and replacement of the DoD’s ageing fleet, to modernise its defence, maritime and air force fleets and equipment, and also to fund research and development for advanced military health services.”
Ntshingila was clear that peace and national security is central to development, with the South African National Defence Force playing an important role in South Africa’s democracy. “This does mean that we must pay lip service to the Department’s gradual decline as demonstrated by the demise of Denel. It is also very concerning that the current soldier life concept is outdated. We need a rejuvenated strategy that allows for a younger more deployable force coupled with an exit mechanism for ageing personnel.”
He highlighted the non-availability of funds for aircraft and naval vessel maintenance as an area of critical concern. “Increasing funding to modernise the DoD fleet, artillery, and vessels are necessary to maintain our combat readiness. The reduced targets for flying and sea hours reflect operational limitations due to inadequate maintenance and funding, impacting the readiness and effectiveness of our forces.
“Despite the allocations for border safeguarding technology, funds have been misallocated and underutilised, compromising border security. The delayed evaluation of the 2015 Defence Review has stalled critical reforms needed for modernisation of our defence strategy.”
Ntshingila touched on the plight of former armed liberation fighters as an indication the Department of Military Veterans “has reached rock bottom” due to numerous issues such as notable vacancies, fraud allegations, unspent funds, and problems with the military veterans’ database.
