SANDF feels the economy squeeze

Budget, or rather the lack thereof, and the effect it was going to have on the South African National Defence Force’s (SANDF) operational capacity were at the forefront of a question and answer session with SANDF chief General Solly Shoke yesterday.

When it came to choosing between paying salaries or funding operations, retaining manpower won the day.

“You have to pay them, whether you like it or not,” said Shoke.

He’s facing predicted economic growth of just 0.7%, a spineless rand, a R50.8 billion shortfall in the budget and as a defence budget which barely covers the cost of importing military mechanics from Cuba to teach our boys and girls how duct tape the ageing SANDF fleet together.

Much like Eskom, which warned government repeatedly about the need to build power stations, it seems government will protest when SANDF personnel are barely able to fight their way out of a wet paper bag thanks to budgetary constraints which could cut deeply into the SANDF’s average strength of about 77 500 permanent force members.

SANDF troops are currently deployed in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Sudan, with 1 323 troops in the DRC and 1 362 in the Sudan.

Shoke noted yesterday money was being received from the United Nations, but he said the money was going into government coffers and had yet to be disbursed to the SANDF.

For 2017-18, the SANDF has access to R48.619 billion, which would be increased to R50.61 billion and R53.966 billion during the next two years.