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The SA National Defence Force and the department is misleading Parliament's portfolio committee on defence with its requests for additional finances, the Democratic Alliance said on Monday.

The decision to appoint 19 new generals in the SANDF was contrary to the spirit within which the department of defence (DoD) requested additional financial resources from Parliament, DA spokesman Roy Jankielsohn said in a statement.

"The department said the money was needed to keep important programmes running, but now it appears that more generals will be appointed," he said.

South Africa had one of the most top-heavy defence forces in the world, and it made no sense to appoint even more generals.

"By last year, the SANDF already had 207 generals and 70,000 personnel, translating into a ratio of one general for every 338 soldiers.

"This compares poorly with the United States Army's 1:4,000, the US Navy's 1:2,000 and the Swiss Army's 1:18,000.

"The SANDF and the DoD is misleading the portfolio committee on defence with its requests for additional finances.

"Prioritising human resource strategies that provide exit mechanisms for ageing troops and the intake of younger troops should take precedence over appointment of generals," Jankielsohn said.

The DA supported attempts by the DoD to restructure and redesign the SANDF to increase mission readiness and make it younger and more professional.

The SANDF had managed to combine various forces with different military backgrounds into a single force. This had however, left the SANDF with many ageing and surplus personnel and equipment.

The re-evaluation of the force structure and design of the SANDF, and the implementation of decisions resulting from this process, was crucial, and would require additional finances as well as a huge amount of political will.

"The DA will support any reasonable efforts to improve the current situation within the SANDF. The SANDF must, however, prove that it is serious about prioritising its expenditure accordingly.

"The SANDF and the DoD cannot plead poverty and at the same time go ahead with the appointment of new people into senior positions," Jankielsohn said.

Die Burger newspaper reported on Monday the SANDF had appointed 19 new generals, despite Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota's repeated assurances the defence force was urgently giving attention to reducing its number of generals.