THE Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Angie Motshekga has been accused of hiding the true state of the SA National Defence Force’s (SANDF) prime mission equipment and its ability to fulfil its constitutional mandate.
This was after Rize Mzansi leader Songezo Zibi asked Motshekga to provide information on the percentage of the defence force fleet that has reached the end of its lifespan but is still being operated.
Zibi also requested the Minister to give a breakdown of this in each division as well as the cost to replace the outdated equipment.
However, Motshekga, in her response to Zibi, said South Africa has established a practice and norm consistent with international practices that matters of combat readiness of the country’s military capabilities are only discussed in a closed session, the Joint Standing Committee on Defence (JSCD), at the behest of the legislative authority.
She further said that should the parliament schedule such, the Department of Defence (DoD) will comprehensively discuss its readiness, inclusive of the history, serviceability, and availability of its platforms.
Rise Mzansi National Assembly Caucus Whip Makashule Gana said this was a selective application of the aforementioned “norm and standard” given that the ministry had previously provided responses to written questions that relate to the maintenance of its fleet and the capabilities of the force to defend the country’s sovereignty.
Gana said Motshekga’s non-response reeks of an attempt to hide the true state of the SANDF’s fleet and its ability to fulfil its constitutional mandate.
He said three SA Navy submariners lost their lives during a training accident described as a “freak accident” in 2023.
“The chief of the SA Navy, Vice Admiral Monde Lobese, said before a Board of Inquiry to investigate the incident that training does not happen as it should due to ongoing budget constraints that impede platform or vessel maintenance, resulting in reduced sea time, which impedes training and, ultimately, experience,” Gana said.
He said SANDF was in distress and it was costing lives both locally and on foreign missions, as “we” learned when two SANDF soldiers lost their lives in the Democratic Republic of Congo this year in June.
Gana said the veil of secrecy thrown over the SANDF’s fleet comes off the back of the Auditor-General’s report, painting a picture of a defence force that was financially crippled and with a stretched mandate.
He said the department was facing the following:
- The SANDF is seeing a decline in prime-mission equipment
- The SA Air Force is seeing a decline in the number of hours flown
- The SA Navy is seeing a decline in the number of hours at sea
- A whopping 62.5% of SANDF commitments are unfunded
The auditor-general also reported that over the last five years, the DoD accounted for the vast majority of irregular expenditure within government departments, at R14.39 billion, due to overspending on salaries.
When it comes to fruitless and wasteful expenditure, the Department of Defence accumulated R75 million in such spending over the last five years.
“If these matters, among others, are not addressed, we will soon, if not already, only have an SANDF in name. Therefore, as a matter of urgency, Minister Motshekga needs to commission a Defence Review, which considers the current economic climate, the
effectiveness of the current SANDF leadership and management, our involvement in foreign missions and the Force’s ageing personnel, to name a few issues, said Gana.
DoD head of communications Siphiwe Dlamini also told Sunday Independent that Motshekga addressed the issues in parliament on Tuesday during the Oral Reply session by the executive.
“This is the way we account to parliament,” Dlamini said.