The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has become progressively more unsustainable as the Department of Defence and Military Veterans’ allocated budget has been declining in recent years, Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said in a media briefing ahead of her Budget Vote, on Wednesday.

“We have now reached the point where the republic must decide on the kind of defence force it wants and what it can afford,” she said, adding that a comparative analysis of Southern African Development Community countries show how underfunded the SANDF is.

“Regional budgets are increasing, while our defence budget is declining.”

She lamented that the frank discussion would need to be had soon as South Africa risked irreversible damage to the defence force as a whole.

The continuous budget declines are happening amid increased concern about the country’s porous borders and the growing threat of terrorism and fundamentalism by extremist groups on the African continent – to which South Africa is not immune.

The Minister said South Africa remained a significant contributor to peacekeeping operations in especially the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), through the United Nations (UN) Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the DRC and the Force Intervention Brigade.

Mapisa-Nqakula explained that reimbursements for the equipment used in the DRC had been received by the National Treasury from the UN. “In the past, that money would go to the national fiscus, but two years ago we reached an agreement with National Treasury that this money should be ringfenced for the SANDF.”

Further, she said porous borders remained a problem. “One of the things we need is more resources for us to deploy the full complement of the defence force. Currently, we have 15 companies deployed at our borders to patrol.

“We need more boots on the borderline and technologies to support the SANDF in the work of patrolling the borders.”

Meanwhile, SANDF chief General Solly Shoke has ordered the defence force to deploy, in cooperation with the South African Police Service, in the Western Cape to help combat crime and stabilise the security situation through intelligence-led operations.

The crime in question particularly relates to gangsterism that is prominent in the province, which the Minister said pointed to serious undermining of the authority of the State in the province.

The ongoing intelligence assessment – the situation on the ground – would determine the right time for the deployment, and eventual withdrawal, of the SANDF; however, the element of surprise would assist in stabilising the situation, said Mapisa-Nqakula.

She added that the SANDF would “not be kind to criminals” in response to a media question about when the SANDF would be deployed, as 43 more murders have occurred in the “Cape Flats” area since the department announced its intention to intervene in the situation last week.

Meanwhile, the SANDF continues to conduct search and rescue, disaster relief and humanitarian operations across the homefront and in neighbouring countries when called upon.

For example, the SANDF was deployed in a disaster relief operation under Operation Chariot when Cyclone Idai hit parts of Mozambique and Malawi.

The SANDF recently intervened to stabilise a crisis at the provincial hospital in Mahikeng, in North West, and rendered essential services through the deployment of health professionals.

Additionally, it intervened to contain the raw sewerage spills into the Vaal river system through repairs of sewage infrastructure in the area, while engineers also assisted the Ditsobotla municipality, in the North West, to fix a sewage system failure.

At the previous budget vote, the Minister called for an overhaul of the defence force. “A lot of work has gone into it and hopefully, together with the Reserve Force Council, we will announce a strategy soon. We have called for an Indaba on the reserve force in September,” she said.

At the event, issues will be addressed and policy regarding the reserve force will be introduced.