The SA Defence Force, SANDF, was somehow drawn into a battle they could not supply. The limits of the SANDF's capabilities were on display for everyone to see in the CAR.
We know that the Defence department tends to reduce its problems to a single cause - a shrinking Defence budget. So, it is appropriate that we are here today to debate the R40 billion appropriation for the Department of Defence and Military Veterans for the 2013-14 financial year. The Defence budget will be marginally increased over the next three years from R40 billion to R45 billion. This contrasts with global trends where Finance Ministers, when it comes to defence spending, are not bothering with haircuts, but are wielding meat axes and slashing Defence budgets.
Desperate to increase revenue, the Italian navy, for example, has gone into business, hired a brand manager and launched a new energy drink called Forza Blu. Things are bad, but at least they are not that bad.
The Defence department also tends to reduce the solutions to all its problems to an increase in the Defence budget. The department legitimately argues that the Defence budget has been reduced to levels where the Defence Force's ability to effectively conduct military operations is being compromised. The truth is that the Defence Force's operating budget has been stripped to the bone, and this has caused major capability gaps in the Defence Force.
We all now know that the 12 state-of-the-art Gripen fighter jets have been vacuum-packed, rather like frozen chickens, and placed in long-term storage because of Defence cuts. The Defence Force is caught in a terrible fix which, put simply, is this: The demand for Defence Force employment is going up and the Defence Force's operating budget is going down.
However, the Defence department, frustratingly, does not seem to be able to help itself by making a credible argument concerning the Defence budget. We are faced with tired, old arguments about the Defence budget. Defence spending, we are told, should be pegged at 2% of the gross domestic product. This, we are told, is what international financial institutions recommend. Well, that is simply not true. What international financial institutions recommend for developing countries is that Defence spending should not exceed 2% of the GDP.
Then, we are faced with hazy arguments about the Defence budget. Incredibly, almost nobody in the Department of Defence and Military Veterans seems to know exactly by how much the Defence budget would have to be increased if it was, in fact, pegged at 2% of the GDP. Well, the answer to that question, for those of you who are interested, is roughly R30 billion, which in itself undermines the credibility of the argument.
We are also faced with dishonest arguments about the Defence budget. What the Department of Defence and Military Veterans has not disclosed is that there is, in fact, a surplus of R4,6 billion - yes, R4,6 billion - which has been warehoused in the secret Special Defence Account, SDA.