Angie Motshekga ‘rudderless’ — Did defence minister inherit a toothless SANDF?

Pressure on Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Angie Motshekga is mounting as South Africa grapples with its role in international conflicts.

An urgent debate in the National Assembly on Monday painted the defence minister as the one who should take ultimate responsibility, despite having inherited the problems that led to the deaths of 14 soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Motshekga spent 15 years as minister of basic education before being assigned to the defence portfolio by President Cyril Ramaphosa in July 2024.

Calls for Motshekga’s resignation

Parties in and out of the government of national unity (GNU) took turns lambasting the minister and the South Africa National Defence Force (SANDF) bosses on Monday for the loss of life in eastern DRC.

ActionSA’s Athol Trollip stressed that a dwindling defence budget had “emasculated” the SANDF, combined with “ineffectual and inexperienced” leadership at senior level.  

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Trollip said during a defence committee meeting in July, ActionSA warned that military personnel were at risk, lamenting the “catastrophic failure” that occurred two weeks ago in Goma.

“You, minister, studiously ignored this question because you are clearly out of your depth, and our national security is not only compromised by this, but the SANDF is rudderless,” said Trollip on Monday.

“Our ill-equipped, under-resourced, demoralised, and outgunned soldiers were sent to fight in a war in which we have no apparent demonstrable interest, and they were set up to fail and die,” he said.

Trollip called for a withdrawal from the DRC, a halt to future deployments subject to a defence review commission and Motshekga’s immediate resignation.

“All those responsible for the ill-conceived deployment, inadequate logistical support, and ineffectual command ought to be charged with culpable dereliction,” he said.

Too many commitments

South Africa is in the DRC as part of a Southern African Development Community mission deployed in December 2023.

Head of the Political Studies and Governance Department at the University of the Free State, Professor Theo Neethling, agreed with the need for a mandate review but stopped short of calling for any resignations.

Neethling highlighted a growing mismatch between what is expected of the SANDF and the political commitments of the government.

The professor said that the defence budget was cut by 11% between 1995 and 1998 and was further reduced from 3% as a percentage of GDP to 0.7% in the subsequent 25 years.

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Additional domestic deployments to assist police with fighting crime had placed further pressure on the ailing structures, Neethling argued.

“It is, therefore, no surprise that the SANDF is often described as institutionally overstretched and has, in fact, been in a state of ongoing decline for some time,” said Neethling.

“Growing fiscal pressures and severe socio-economic challenges leave the government in a weak position to significantly increase the defence budget.

“Perhaps now is the time to reassess both its mandate and funding, particularly in light of the persistent gap between political expectations and available resources,” Neethling concluded.

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