Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

This withering assessment of the country’s armed forces is in a report by parliament’s portfolio and joint standing committees on defence. The report was based on a three-day briefing last November on the army, navy, air force and military health services.

The committees say government needs to decide whether the SANDF is funding-driven or mandate-driven. “A decision has to be made at the highest level whether ... the SANDF will be relevant and be a national asset properly and adequately funded ... or whether it will continue its current downward spiral.”

Committee members seem divided on the combat readiness of the SANDF. Democratic Alliance MP and defence committee member Rafeek Shah says: “We are not combat ready, we have a long way to go to rejuvenate the (land-based) forces.” Committee chairman and ANC MP Somangamane Ntuli says the SANDF is combat ready, the question is whether it can sustain operations.

There is no doubt that the army, in particular, has been underfunded for years. Many of the acquisitions under the multimillion-rand arms deal were big-ticket items for the navy and air force. The army has been surviving with obsolescent vehicles from the 1980s, and there is little money available for training. The overall defence budget has been declining in real terms for years.

The committee calls for an increase in spending on defence from 1,2% of GDP to 1,7% over the next four years. But such proposals are bound to be questioned. DA MP Eddie Trent recently asked the department for details on the purchase of a ground-to-air missile system. In 2007 it was expected to cost R999m. That could have doubled. Shah says the DA supports increased spending on basic equipment and personnel, but not on a “shopping spree”.

Another area of major concern is the underfunded Reserve Force (RF), which provides the bulk of SA’s land-based capability. The committees want the RF to take part in full conventional exercises every three years, with the training budget ring-fenced.

On the retention of scarce skills, the committees recommend a special dispensation for pay and retention of pilots and other specialists.

Armoured vehicle 1986 vintage Time to upgrade