Hon Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Minister, hon Members of Parliament and guests in the gallery, after the Minister introduced the young people up in the gallery and mentioned their extraordinary achievements, I decided to start my speech at the end, by saying that the ANC supports this Budget Vote. [Applause.]
Let me continue by saying that over the recent months, the Department of Defence and Military Veterans has once again made us proud. Our deployment in the Mozambique Channel, in an antipiracy role, on request of the Southern African Development Community, SADC, security organ, has shown that we do not shy away from our regional responsibilities.
Similarly, our commitment to aid the continent with peace-supporting operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Sudan shows our determination to contribute to continental peace and stability.
On the home front, rapid progress is being made to implement section 5 of the Military Veterans Act that deals with benefits to our military veterans, who contributed immensely to laying the ground for the democracy that we enjoy today. Let me therefore congratulate the department on this score.
There are, however, pertinent issues that require our support and attention, of which the allocated budget is a prominent one. National Treasury, in its 2012 Budget Estimates of National Expenditure, allocated an amount of R37,4 billion to Vote 22, the Department of Defence and Military Veterans. This constitutes 3,81% of the total appropriation of R969,4 billion for the financial year, for the country.
Although the budget allocation has increased by 9,5% in nominal terms in comparison to 2011-12, a commonly shared sentiment is that the Defence budget is not sufficient to cover its ordered commitments. This is especially true if we consider the newly added responsibilities, such as border safeguarding, maritime security in the Mozambique Channel, and furthering the establishment of the Department of Military Veterans.
In order to further illustrate the impact of the decrease in the Defence budget, let us consider two of the eight programmes of the Defence Force, namely Programme 1, which is Administration, and Programme 4, which is Air Defence.
The Administration programme consists of 15 subprogrammes, with the latest addition being that of the Department of Military Veterans. It covers 9,95% of the total Defence budget, is the fourth largest of the programmes, and executes the department's overall management, administration and policy development. In nominal terms it increased by 0,33% and in real terms it shows a decrease of 5,26%.
Within the Administration programme, the subprogramme Office Accommodation is the largest at 50,54%. This subprogramme manages the payment of accommodation charges, leases and municipal services. Human Resource Support Services and Financial Services are second and third respectively. It should be noted that this programme is unlike those of other departments, in the sense that it makes provision for subprogrammes such as Religious Services, Defence Reserve Direction and Office Accommodation.
Part of the increase in the Ministry's subprogramme is related to the establishment of the military ombud. This is an intervention that is sorely required by the Defence Force, as it will assist in resolving the grievances of soldiers. This is also indicative of the resolve of the department to improve the conditions of service of soldiers. This initiative will be backed up by the Defence Force Service Commission, the