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The SANDF is too underfunded to operate helicopters or protect borders, leaving citizens dangerously exposed.
Picture: Gallo Images/Brenton Geach
As a former military man, Bantu Holomisa must feel intensely frustrated in his current position as deputy minister of defence as he presides over the slow-motion collapse of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF).
His boss, Defence and Military Veterans Minister Angie Motshekga, seems to think our military is still capable of defending the country.
But against what, she does not say. If she is thinking we would be safe from attack from countries around us, then perhaps we might be able to see off Swaziland and Namibia… but Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zambia would be a different proposition, because all boast better equipped defence forces than we have.
Holomisa says there is a lack of support from parliament, Cabinet and National Treasury in ensuring the SANDF gets adequate funding.
The bottom line is that anyone who knows anything about military matters is in agreement: either the SANDF gets the money it needs for maintenance and upgrades, or its mission will have to be redefined.
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That our borders and coastline cannot be defended or protected at present is beyond question. But what has been emerging in recent months is the fact that, when the SANDF is required for its major role of “support to the civil power” in emergency situations, for example… it cannot cope.
In the recent floods in the Eastern Cape, the SA Air Force was unable to deploy rescue helicopters because, as news reports said, it did not have sufficient budget to pay flight engineers their flying allowance.
There is no real airlift capacity to speak of, either, so troops and equipment have had to be transported to and from deployments in Africa by chartered aircraft.
Worryingly, even if money is found now, it will take years to rectify the damage and acquire new systems, never mind maintenance to keep current assets operational.
South Africans are, effectively, sitting ducks.
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