Defence and Military Veterans Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula says she will have to “engage strongly” with Cabinet and Parliament on the ever-declining defence budget allocation.
Such an engagement would have to include discussions, debates and a resolution on the level of ambition that South Africa wants, including the shape and size of its defence force; the emerging security risks, contingencies and priorities that it requires the defence force to be prepared for; and the concomitant defence capabilities that it must fund and support, she adds.
The Minister was providing a written response to a National Assembly question by Democratic Alliance MP Sarel Jacobus Francois Marais about whether she would commission a new defence review, in light of the budget constraints facing the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).
Engineering News Online in July quoted Mapisa-Nqakula as saying that the SANDF had become progressively more unsustainable with the decline in its budget.
“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 at the time, pointing out that the other Southern African Development Community members were increasing their defence budgets, while South Africa’s budget was declining.
Other news reports indicate that the department’s nearly R50-billion budget is half of what it regards as necessary to execute its defence duties.
Further, these indicate that over R10-billion has already been cut from the department’s budget in the last three years; with a further R5-billion set to be cut in 2021.
Mapisa-Nqakula responded that the department had not commissioned a new defence review, having concluded that the bulk of the Defence Review 2015 remained valid and appropriate despite being predicated on a steady stream of improving defence allocation.