Thank you, Chairperson. Hon Motimele, the answer to this question is a very detailed one and I will give it over to you at the end of this session. However, within the time available to me, I would like to indicate that we do have plans to revitalise our ageing materiel and car fleet in order to ensure efficiency and effectiveness of the defence operations within the four services of the Defence Force.
Within the Army, for instance, a detailed Scamp - Strategic Capital Acquisition Master Plan - is in place, although only partially funded. As far as operational vehicles are concerned, there is a project in place to replace the ageing Casspir and Mamba fleets. For your own edification, Chairperson, Casspir is not the friendly ghost; it is an armoured vehicle.
Another major renewal programme addresses the supply support of the cargo vehicles' system and, as far as the light support vehicles - buses and bakkies - are concerned, last year we set aside R166,8 million for this, and in the current year we have set aside R74 million for this.
In the Air Force we are concentrating on a number of areas in which we would like to ensure that there is renewal. The first area is the very, very important person, VVIP, capacity; the second area is the light air transport system; the third area is maritime surveillance, seeing that we have adopted a maritime strategy; the fourth area is the air traffic control system in support of command control capability and the radar systems; and the last area is the ground support system, that is, the refuelling of vehicles, fire engines, rescue vehicles, etc.
We also have a detailed plan for the Navy, and this is available for you to peruse. We have another detailed plan which is in place for the SA Medical Service, the Sams. A number of issues need our attention and these have to do with the hospitals - which we have dealt with just now - and the facilities that support the hospitals. Thank you, Chairperson.
Hon Chair, the Minister has sufficiently answered my question. There is no follow-up. Thank you.
Chairperson, the hon Minister has a well-earned reputation for turning the Department of Defence and Military Veterans into a state within a state. The previous Minister of Defence routinely replied to parliamentary questions concerning the Defence Force's strategic capital acquisition master plan, the Scamp.
We were provided with details concerning the Defence department's capital acquisition projects, but not any more. The Minister now claims in a reply to a recent written parliamentary question that the department is not at liberty to release this information to the public as it may compromise the security plans of the SA National Defence Force, and generate undue speculation within the country and the industry. The fact is that information was available on the Scamp, but now it is not. Would the Minister tell us what has changed?
Thank you very much, hon Chair. What has changed is that traditionally the Portfolio Committee on Defence respects the integrity of the defence systems of this country. Traditionally, the Portfolio Committee on Defence has acted in the national interests of the country. We now have people who are more interested in their own profiles - that is what has changed.
However, we do have in place now the Joint Standing Committee on Defence at which all of this information is available. This information is available in full to the Portfolio Committee on Defence, and it actually works in the interests of the country that we have a portfolio committee that has the integrity to go through most of the matters that we are dealing with, which are operational, so that we are assisted in ensuring that we can jointly secure the country. Thank you. [Applause.]
Thank you. Question 196 ...
Sorry, Chairperson, I had pressed the "to talk" button.
Okay. The hon ... Nhanha from Cope.
From Cope, indeed, Chair. [Laughter.] Thanks, Chairperson. Firstly, I would like to raise with the Minister the issue I have. If I heard you correctly, you seemed to be generalising that the committee is full of people that are unpatriotic. For the record, I am patriotic, Minister.
Secondly, Minister, on the ageing fleet of our military: at what cost would you estimate that we as a country would spend to refurbish the fleet and the materiel of Defence? Also, after having spent so much money and you are satisfied that indeed we have a well-equipped military, what is it that you would put in place to ensure that we don't fall into the same situation we find ourselves in today in which we are sitting with equipment and fleet 35 to 40 years old? Thank you.
Thank you very much, hon member, and for the record: yes, I want to take that statement back. I did not intend to imply that all of you are unpatriotic; some, however, I am not sure of.
The point I wanted to make, which is a very important one, is that in all democratic countries there are certain areas, such as defence, which are a national responsibility. They are not party-political matters, but matters of national responsibility. And that is what I wanted to point out that has changed in this Parliament since 2002 to 2009. Then we did not have this. We had very good co-operation between ourselves, as multiparty Members of Parliament, with the Ministry of Defence.
And how would I want to make sure that what happened in the past does not happen again? I am depending on you to assist the Ministry of Defence to ensure that whatever we get now for the Defence Force, you will be there, first, to approve it; second, to make sure that we have the resources; and, third, to make sure that jointly, with me, you monitor that it is put to good use.
I am unfortunately unable, hon member, to give you the total figure of what we would need to recover and make sure that we can revitalise our fleet. Most of what we have - our vehicles and our aircraft - are ageing. We really need a great deal of injection of resources into this, because this is where we experience most of our difficulties in ferrying around our personnel and in ferrying around those people who need to be ferried from one place to another. The fleet that we have is truly aged. We need to make sure that we can direct the resources, and, with your help and, perhaps when we have had the opportunity to give you a breakdown of what we have in the review, you will be able to support us in this venture. Thank you.
Chairperson, I want to assure the Minister of Defence that if she thinks of me as being unpatriotic, it does not worry me at all, because Gen Magnus Malan also thought I was when I was an MP in this House previously. [Interjections.]
At the moment there is a counter-piracy conference going on in Cape Town, and I would like to ask the hon Minister whether she has included on this list the requirements that we would need, not only for us, but perhaps for Southern African Development Community countries as well, in order to deal with this very serious and growing global problem of piracy at sea.
Thank you very much, hon member. There is a difference between what Magnus Malan meant as unpatriotic and what a democratic state would mean as unpatriotic.
Yes, there is a counter-piracy conference taking place. It starts on Thursday. If the hon member has time, it would be very good if he went to it because we will be giving a very good presentation on the work that we are doing.
We have taken time, hon member, to study the issue of piracy. We indicated that at some point it seemed a very distant problem - a very distant threat - to us, until we started counting the cost of what it would mean to us and our economy and the economies of the countries around us. We have now put in place a SADC strategy to deal with piracy. We presented it to the SADC heads of state in Angola a few months ago, and it was adopted. It is now binding on all the countries of the SADC region to ensure that this strategy is funded and that it is supported.
We offered to host the first centre for this strategy, and we are very glad that we are having the conference here. We have budgeted for the fleet that we would need to support the strategy, because it is very important for us. We have also had to reprioritise this, because it was not on our agenda, but we are fully covered for the current year. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Question 196 has been posed by the Rev Meshoe, who is not present, to the Minister of Police. Mr S N Swart will take up the follow-up question on his behalf.
Particulars regarding police officers arrested for selling confiscated drugs
196. Rev K R J Meshoe (ACDP) asked the Minister of Police: Whether any police officers have been arrested for selling confiscated drugs; if so, (a) how many police officers have been arrested, (b) from which provinces were they and (c) how many of these police officers have been suspended with pay?