Last year we made very bold statements indicating what we had hoped to achieve by now. We set ourselves some very ambitious priorities and we can report that we have achieved those priorities.
On the defence dispensation, this is the most significant among those that we have achieved with the generous help of both the interim commission and Members of Parliament. The amending Bill has been passed by Parliament and I would like to thank the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans for their support.
We set the goals of creating a new dispensation for the SANDF and we have done that. With the completion of regulations, we will have removed the SANDF from the stranglehold of an ill-fitting establishment and placed it in an environment where it should be and from which we hope we can propel it forward. This has been such a remarkable step that I am amazed it took such a short space of time. But, of course, it is fair to understand that some of this was held back by some of the activities that were going on in the House, exemplified even now as I speak.
We are now in charge of the destiny of our soldiers and we are able to do what a long time ago would have been the sensible thing to do. The most basic advantage, long overdue, is that within this dispensation we are now able to deal comprehensively with the issue of accommodation of our soldiers; we can now deal comprehensively with the grievances of our personnel within our environment; and we can now deal comprehensively with the discipline of our soldiers within the mould of our institutions.
It boggles the mind why it took us so long to get here. But, most importantly, we intend to use this dispensation to ensure that the state can invest in each soldier in direct proportion to what the state expects to get from that soldier. Therefore the funding of the SANDF has to reflect this reality.
The Deputy Minister is here, and will deal with our obligations in terms of one of the priorities that we set ourselves last year regarding the military veterans.
We want to indicate at this particular point that uMkhonto weSizwe will be coming of age this year in celebrating its 50th year. This coming year will be characterised by initiatives to show our indebtedness and recognition to all those who sacrificed their wellbeing to help us realise the freedoms that we now enjoy. This is one of the single most important priorities that we set for ourselves this year. By the time that Azanla, Azanian National Liberation Army, and Apla, Azanian People's Liberation Army, forces also come of age, we will ensure that we celebrate accordingly.
We promised that the matter of the department's status as a repeat offender in the Auditor-General's report would come to an end. We have lived up to that promise. The Auditor-General's report indicates the good work that has been put into ensuring that our audit reflects our determination. The Secretary for Defence, together with the chief financial officer, are keenly aware that their lives depend on this. We promised to appoint a compliance officer in the Minister's office and we have done that.
Regarding border security, we promised to return to the borders, and we can report that we have done that. We took the opportunity to invite members of the portfolio committee to see the formidable challenges that we faced as we took over the responsibility. Now South Africa is reaping the benefits of our deployment. Our borders are secure, cross-border crime has dropped, syndicate crime has been dealt a blow, and our communities and the farmers feel safe. As of 1 April this year we moved to the second phase and are now deployed on the border along the Kruger National Park.
With regard to policy review, we promised to deal with a number of issues especially around the Defence Review and a number of other policy reviews. We can now report that I have here with me, not as a show as we saw last year, but tangible work that we have done, which we give over - not to you; you're not the portfolio committee.
We promised that we would deal with the repositioning of the Secretariat of Defence. We have done that and the documentation is here. We promised to deal with the establishment of the National Youth Service, and we have done that and the documentation is here. We promised to deal with the repositioning of the defence industry, especially that of Denel, and we have done it. Again, it is here. We will make these representations to you and the relevant portfolio committee chairperson at a time that is convenient to you. If you could call on us, we will make sure that we do that.
We await the preferred dates from both the oversight committee and the joint standing committee. We would want to urge members here please not to use old stunts. These documents are documents that will be handed over to the portfolio committee for discussion. Banish any thought of more publicity gimmicks around documents.
In terms of defence capability, we promised to attend urgently to the matter of the declining state of our infrastructure, and we have done so. We have not, however, succeeded in covering one critical issue, namely the essential matter we are discussing today, which is the Defence budget. It remains a critical driver of our priorities that we have identified for this current financial year.
The budget of the Defence Force has to change and reflect the constitutional requirements that we have. To bemoan the inadequacies of the budget is to repeat what each one of us here understands is a matter that we should be addressing as a matter of urgency and together. In this current period of turmoil in North Africa and the Cte d'Ivoire, we are called upon to ensure that we have a defence force in place in a constant state of readiness for any eventuality.
In the short term we have had to reprioritise and use the virement tool to scrape through, at great cost to our programmes and development. The priorities we outline now will require a significantly increased budget and we ask you, through you, Chairperson, to please consider this as you make your submission on the budget.
And now, going forward, we have outlined our priorities for the current year quite extensively in our strategic objectives, which have already been tabled before Parliament and discussed extensively with members of the portfolio committee.
We want to emphasise just a few of these. To begin with, there is the entrenchment of the new dispensation. The first piece of legislation is the Defence Amendment Bill, which has been passed and promulgated. We are now preparing the regulations that will lay the foundation for this dispensation. We expect that these will be completed soon. This dispensation will not be an event, but a process, and we will have to manage it in a structured way. It comes at a time when we have put in place the cornerstones of what we need to put right in the Defence Force. We have completed the process of our grievance procedures.
We also want to table before you two other important pieces of legislation: The Military Ombudsman Bill, the Bill that deals with the critical issue that you have had on you mind for a very long time, which is the unions in the Defence Force, and the Military Discipline Bill.
On the issue of the military unions, the legislation will be tabled before you. Therefore, I will not continually have to answer the perennial question coming from you on why we are still allowing unions in the Defence Force. We have taken the political decision. The decision will be in your hands as the legislature. You have the mandate; you have the power to legislate.
Our second priority is the improvement of the conditions of the Defence Force with the budget that we have. However, we have resolved to be very prudent because we don't have much, and to husband our resources. We have imposed stringent austerity measures on our system. Furthermore, we are working on ways of maximising our assets to benefit our need for decent accommodation for our soldiers. Our assets are land that we own and the Defence Works capability.
We have just concluded a very important audit of Defence endowment land and properties. We received this last week. The point that I want you to make from this is that the outcome of the audit makes us understand the value of the land that we have. The next phase would be to conduct an audit of the land that is held in our name by Public Works. We intend to put this land to productive use, primarily in partnership with the private sector and our Works Regiment to build accommodation for our soldiers.
We believe there is great potential here, in partnership with the private sector, in the revitalisation of the Works Regiment and the creation of jobs for the main product itself, which is decent accommodation for our soldiers and their families.
In terms of our third priority, we have recently had a great shock, as the world and Africa, in waking up to the fact that stability in the end does rest on how we respond to the aspirations of the youth. South Africa was alive to these challenges long before it became fashionable. The President himself in 2010 directed our attention to the demographic and political challenges of a youthful country, long before anyone ever imagined there would be trouble in what were considered safe countries, such as Tunisia and Egypt.
We now have in front of us the policy for the national youth programme, which, again, we will be tabling before the portfolio committee. [Interjections.] Would you protect me from that rowdiness?
Our fourth and very important priority is maritime security. [Interjections.]