{"id":330025,"date":"2019-07-18T10:43:52","date_gmt":"2019-07-18T08:43:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=330025"},"modified":"2019-07-18T10:56:06","modified_gmt":"2019-07-18T08:56:06","slug":"south-africas-army-has-run-out-of-money-heres-how-bad-things-have-got","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/330025\/south-africas-army-has-run-out-of-money-heres-how-bad-things-have-got\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa&#8217;s army has run out of money &#8211; here&#8217;s how bad things have got"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Department of Defence and Military Veterans has warned that a severe lack of funding could impact its ability to protect South Africa.<\/p>\n<p>In a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.za\/speeches\/pre-budget-vote-media-briefing-17-jul-2019-0000\">media briefing<\/a><\/strong> on Wednesday (17 July), Defence minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said that her department has been forced to continuously adjust its plans downwards in response to the declining budget in recent years.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Defence Force is becoming progressively more unsustainable in terms of declining defence allocations,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have now reached the point where the Republic must decide on the kind of Defence Force it wants and what it can afford. We need a frank discussion very soon as we risk the irreversible damage to the defence force as a whole.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In a portfolio committee <a href=\"https:\/\/pmg.org.za\/committee-meeting\/28547\/\">meeting <\/a>held earlier this month, the department said that the continued lack of funding may impact negatively on the ability of the SANDF to fulfil its <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.defenceweb.co.za\/sa-defence\/sa-defence-sa-defence\/fact-file-sandf-mandate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">constitutional mandate<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>It added that over the past three financial years insufficient funds were available to cover expenditure related to compensation of employees.<\/p>\n<p>This had led to the Department of Defence exploring additional sources of revenue, such as the sale of assets (including land), to cover the shortfall.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Declining force\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One of the key issues that was raised during the committee meeting was the protection of South Africa&#8217;s borders.<\/p>\n<p>Specific concerns raised included:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>That the current deployment of 15 SANDF sub-units along South Africa\u2019s borders are insufficient and that at least 22 sub-units are required.<\/li>\n<li>The need for technological force multipliers to assist deployed forces along the land borders.<\/li>\n<li>Shortages of suitable air assets at the SA Air Force\u2019s 35 Squadron as well as 28 Squadron to effect border patrols.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Other issues identified include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The replacing of South Africa&#8217;s infantry fighting vehicles with a modern fleet;<\/li>\n<li>Challenges with the SANDF\u2019s Logistical support to operational equipment &#8211; specifically the need for aircraft spares;<\/li>\n<li>Outdated ICT systems, notably the finance, human resources and logistics systems.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>How South Africa compares<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>According to the latest Global Firepower <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/304332\/south-africas-military-strength-vs-the-rest-of-the-world-in-2019\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ranking<\/a><\/strong>, South Africa is\u00a0ranked as having the 32nd greatest military strength in the world \u2013 behind Egypt (12th) and Algeria (27th) in Africa.<\/p>\n<p>More than 137 countries feature on the list, with the ranking utilising more than 55 different factors to determine a given nation\u2019s PowerIndex.<\/p>\n<p>According to the ranking, South Africa has 66,300 active personnel and 15,000 reserve personnel.<\/p>\n<p>It also estimates that the country has around 14,175,119 citizens who would be fit-for-service should the country enforce conscription laws.<\/p>\n<p>Notably, the country stands out for its land power but has fallen behind other nations in recent years when it comes to air and naval power.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Air power<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>South Africa has a total aircraft strength of 206 assets.<\/p>\n<p>This includes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>17 fighter aircraft<\/li>\n<li>17 attack aircraft<\/li>\n<li>23 transport aircraft<\/li>\n<li>67 trainer aircraft<\/li>\n<li>92 total helicopters<\/li>\n<li>12 attack helicopters<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Army\/Land power<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>South Africa has a total land strength of 2,888 assets.<\/p>\n<p>This includes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>195 combat tanks<\/li>\n<li>2,500 armoured fighting vehicles<\/li>\n<li>43 self-propelled artillery<\/li>\n<li>100 towed artillery<\/li>\n<li>50 rocket projectors<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Naval power<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>South Africa has a total naval strength of 30 assets.<\/p>\n<p>Notably, the country currently has no aircraft carriers, destroyers or corvette-class vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>This includes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>4 frigates<\/li>\n<li>3 submarines<\/li>\n<li>31 patrol craft<\/li>\n<li>2 mine warfare vessels<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/328767\/south-africa-is-deploying-the-army-to-fight-crime-heres-how-the-murder-rate-compares-to-an-actual-war-zone\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">South Africa is deploying the army to fight crime \u2013 here\u2019s how the murder rate compares to an actual war zone<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Department of Defence and Military Veterans has warned that a severe lack of funding could impact its ability to protect South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":91336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-330025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330025"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":330073,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330025\/revisions\/330073"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}