Motshekga blames DRC, Denel and illegal mining for defence department’s poor finances

Defence and Military Veterans Minister Angie Motshekga has raised concerns about the defence’s challenges, once again highlighting the impact of underfunding.

Motshekga addressed parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) on Tuesday.

The meeting focused on the annual reports and financial statements of the Department of Defence and Military Veterans.

Motshekga on defence’s underfunding issues

In her opening remarks, Motshekga highlighted the significant challenges within the department, saying budget constraints and austerity measures have worsened operational difficulties.

“The defunding has affected us badly. It places us in a very difficult situation in many respects,” she told members of parliament (MPs) on Tuesday.

One of the department’s key financial challenges is an overspend of R3 billion on human resources.

To address this, the minister outlined plans to restructure personnel by encouraging early retirement for employees aged 55 and older.

“There are measures that government had put in place in terms of early retirement so we can readily release your older staff who are highly paid and use rejuvenating programs to be able to create space,” she explained.

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Motshekga said budget limitations have also hindered the maintenance of military equipment.

“For instance, in the Air Force, instead of having six planes, we have four working ones, so it reduces the number of flying hours that we can give to our people.

“If we don’t have enough money to service our boats and ships, it means there’s less time for people to be trained or to be in the sea, which not only affects us in terms of our capacity, but it also affects the contribution of defence to our country.”

Watch the meeting below:

She stated that the department has been in discussions with the National Treasury regarding funding challenges and asserted that an agreement was reached to prioritise defence ahead of Wednesday’s Budget Speech.

“Our HOD [head of department] is in constant communication with Treasury to see how we can really save the department because it is a serious problem.”

Impact of unfunded deployments

Another pressing issue raised by Motshekga was the financial strain caused by unfunded deployments, which have led to overspending.

“We do find ourselves in many instances dealing with unfunded mandates,” she said.

One such instance is Operation Vala Umgodi, an initiative to combat illegal mining.

“When the police have to deal with zama zamas, it is not part of our plan. We get requested to go and support them, and we spend money.”

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Additionally, the extension of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) until December 2025 represented another unfunded obligation.

“It’s not in our budget; it will only come in the next financial year. So sometimes, it is the nature of our work which forces us into unfunded mandates,” Motshekga said.

The SANDF deployed 2 900 soldiers to the eastern DRC in December 2023 at a cost of R2.4 billion to support the Southern African Development Community (SADC) mission in combating illicit armed factions.

Challenges at Denel

Motshekga also addressed the challenges at state-owned arms manufacturer, Denel, which failed to attend Tuesday’s parliamentary meeting.

“They are our arm that is supposed to empower us,” she said.

To support the Air Force, the minister indicated that the department has reallocated funds to assist with aircraft repairs.

“There is work underway in that area in terms of repairs. We have had problems with spares and again, it comes back to Denel because Denel is the one that is supposed to help us with maintenance.”

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She added that the department has been forced to procure spare parts from international suppliers due to Denel’s shortcomings.

“We are working with other countries like China, which has very advanced engineering, to come and look at our equipment and help us to reengineer because some of the spares we can’t find in the country.

“With the weaknesses in Denel, we buy overseas and it takes forever. There are instances where we have ordered spares eight months ago, and they have not arrived, so it is another area of great concern.

“Hence, I agree that we need to give full attention and support to Denel and make sure it has the capacity to help us.”

Motshekga laments defence’s audit findings

Moreover, Motshekga highlighted the defence department’s qualified audit opinion from the Auditor-General’s office and its negative impact on efforts to secure more funding.

“It makes it difficult for us to go and plead for more money. You can’t have fruitless expenditure of R9 billion and go to Treasury to ask them to give you R10 billion. Treasury just doesn’t look kindly to that.

“For us to be able to make a case and be properly funded, we have to clean our house first and be able to account for every money that we have, so Treasury can begin to look at us.”

The minister conceded that while some budgetary issues stem from external mandates, internal control weaknesses have also contributed to irregular and unauthorised expenditure.

“As much as I say the deployments are out of our control, we also picked up that there are areas where we also dropped the ball.”

Additionally, Motshekga pointed out the department’s reliance on outdated administrative systems, which continue to hamper efficiency.

“We have created the capacity to help digitise the defence. It will help us to manage quite a number of things where we are bleeding, such as management of leave and travel.”

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