4.1.1 A strategic plan addresses a few key areas on which a department must focus in support of Government policy, as well as the strategies to achieve them. It is an important tool to achieve Government objectives, to address financial management and service delivery problems, and to ensure that services are delivered in the most economical, effective and efficient manner. The plans are both informed by, and designed to realise, the mandate of the department and to indicate how the allocated budget will be spent. 4.1.2 The Committee was mindful of the new reporting format, which separates the strategic objectives of the Defence Secretariat and the South African National Defence Force (SANDF). Subsequently, the Committee received a briefing on the Strategic Plan and Annual Performance Plan of the Defence Secretariat only, while the tabling of the SANDF Strategic Plan, at the time of writing this report, was still awaited. According to the Department, this new format would better reflect that the Secretariat and SANDF were separate institutions with "distinct, yet complementary" mandates and would thus "be serviced differently".