Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

PARLIAMENT has taken the unusual step of postponing the budget vote of the minister of defence and military veterans to allow for her to brief MPs first.

The National Assembly’s defence oversight committee had complained that it was expected to approve the budget without first being able to question the minister or defence force chiefs.

In a preliminary report, the defence committee said this week it would find it difficult to rubber-stamp the budget, as Minister Lindiwe Sisulu and the army, navy and air force top brass had not appeared before it.

Committee chair Nyami Booi did not want to comment yesterday, but the National Assembly’s chairman of committee chairs, Obed Bapela, confirmed that Sisulu would not be delivering her budget vote today.

It has been postponed by a week “to give the minister and chiefs of the forces time to brief the committee”, he said.

Bapela said the minister would now brief the committee next week.

Questions that MPs want answered include details on the new Directorate for Military Veterans and information on the proposed deployment of SA National Defence Force troops in crime-fighting. A recent briefing by acting Defence Secretary Ntsiki Motumi had not provided sufficient answers.

“Details of the most appropriate institutional design and associated costs relating to military veterans are not yet known,” the committee’s report states.

“This is a key shortcoming and the committee intends to hold regular briefings with the department to review the progress made on the design and implementation of the new structure, as well as the budget for its administration.”

The committee also seeks answers to questions on who will qualify as a military veteran, although it was agreed that former liberation fighters, in general, had been neglected.

Another issue is Police minister Nathi Mthethwa’s statement that the SANDF should be used to provide cash-in-transit security – something on which Sisulu has yet to comment. While committee members believe the SANDF could help to fight crime, it believed “an appropriate role for the defence force has yet to be developed”.