SA defence department faces a budget noose
Date: 8 February 2005
The South African Department of Defence is struggling in the face of increasing commitments and an indifferent Treasury. The department must find a further R80 million within its budget to fund an unexpected commitment of an infantry company to Darfur, Sudan. That after it this week told the parliamentary defence portfolio committee that it needs a further R500 million -- over and above its anticipated budget of R22 billion -- to bring into service the equipment bought under the controversial 1999 Strategic Defence Package. The Treasury, however, plans to allocate only R61 million.
As a consequence, the ships and submarines, fighters and helicopters bought at a cost of about R30 billion are likely to end up alongside a naval wharf and in the air force's hangars. The problem, long foreseeable, has worried many foreign military attaches in Pretoria for at least the last three years. All four Meko A200SAN corvettes are now alongside for fitting out in Simon's Town. Three Type 209 submarines are now at an advanced stage of construction in Germany. The first three A109 light utility helicopters are undergoing testing at the SA Air Force's helicopter training centre in Bloemfontein. It has been reported that problems are being experienced with the design, particularly the interaction of the boom with the pod. It has also already been decided that the platform is too complicated to use as an ab initio helicopter trainer and ten Alouette IIIs are now be retained for this role. The first two Hawk Mk 120 lead-in fighter trainers are also already at the SAAF's Test Flight and Development Centre for testing.
According to the authoritative Business Day newspaper, the department has classified identified 316 different risks in its strategic plan. The DoD's chief director of strategic management, Antonie Visser, told the defence committee that of these 36 were critical. Fourteen options for tackling them were developed. Four were presented to the Treasury for consideration for funding over budget baseline. Visser added that the DoD had asked for an extra R47 million this year for integrating the defence packages, but had only been given R26 million. For the 2006-07 financialyear, it wanted an extra R40 million for the task and has been allocated R22 million. For 2007-08, a request for R31 million was reduced to R13 million. Visser reported that, particularly in maritime defence, provision of "logistic support, ordnance and facilities for the new corvettes and submarines was a critical challenge". Under the air defence rubric, the infrastructure on the ground and the weapons systems did not meet the required standards for combat readiness, Business Day said.
Visser said there were declining numbers of skilled and experienced personnel in the air defence arena. Another identified critical risk was the disposal of dangerous and unstable ammunition because of a lack of an ammunition disposal plan. This was also one of the options sent to treasury for consideration for extra funding, the paper said. Of the R170 million requested for the disposal of ammunition over the next three years, the department would receive R65 million and would again have to find the rest lsewhere in its budget.
Visser said the department also faced a serious challenge in meeting the international peacekeeping obligations to which it was being committed. Essentially, there were not enough young soldiers, he said. Those who could not be deployed because of age and health would be shed, but the exit mechanism allowing for this still had to be put in place. Visser said some troops no longer suitable for military work were being redeployed to the SA Police Service and were undergoing retraining. Part of the DoD's strategic programme for 2005-06 was to further implement themilitary skills development system, which involved offering suitable young people two year service contracts.
Democratic Alliance MP Rafeek Shah, who serves on the committee, afterwards said he expects the military's monetary woes to increase. He said the Visser report should serve as a warning to the government that its plans to purchase a fleet of Airbus Military A400 transports could be parting way with financial reality.
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