The South African Defense Force (SANDF) is bleeding funds with irregular expenditure and poor management taking its toll on the defence budget.<\/p>\n
According to the opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), a recent presentation from the National Treasury has painted a bleak picture of the state of affairs within the Defence Force.<\/p>\n
The political party said that the national army is in the “ICU” in light of its financial constraints spurred on by irregular expenditure over the past five years.<\/p>\n
One of the most notable points of contention for the party was the fact that the army spent R1.5 billion travelling both domestically and internationally.<\/p>\n
“Treasury warned that unless steps are taken to cut back on travel costs, the army will struggle to stabilise its finance,” said the DA.<\/p>\n
As a result of this, the DA heavily criticised the recent actions of Lieutenant-General Lawrence Mbatha’s foreign trip to Russia during the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
The party said that Treasury further raised concern over a yearly Compensation of Employees (CEO) overspend of R2.9 billion on personnel costs not budgeted for, despite a drop in headcount within the army.<\/p>\n
It added that state-owned arms suppliers and developers, Armscor and Denel, should be merged to save costs on corporate services.<\/p>\n
“What Treasury revealed in its presentation is ill-discipline and lack of political management to bring about the much-needed turnaround. While the army fails to prioritise R2.5 billion for the essential midlife upgrades of Frigates (army ships), they are prepared to overspend on employee costs on a yearly basis,” said the DA.<\/p>\n
The SANDF’s financial status has been a point of concern for years. In November last year, Cyril Xaba, the chair of the portfolio committee on defence and military veterans, said that funding in the SANDF remains a crisis which could spell disaster for the safety and security of the country.<\/p>\n