Defence vs Finance, the Long-term Implications for South African Security

On 27 October 2010 the South African Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, presented his Medium Term Budget Policy (MTBP) to the South African Parliament. In it the Minister reduced the South African defence budget for the remaining 2010/2011 financial year from R30,7 billion to R30,4 billion.

Published on 02 November 2010 in ISS Today

Anton Kruger, Consultant. PMP Program

On 27 October 2010 the South African Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, presented his Medium Term Budget Policy (MTBP) to the South African Parliament. In it the Minister reduced the South African defence budget for the remaining 2010/2011 financial year from R30,7 billion to R30,4 billion. The South African Department of Finance (DoF) states that the aim of the Department of Defence (DoD) is to defend and protect the Republic of South Africa, its territorial integrity and people. The essential question is whether the DoD is being allocated sufficient funds to fulfill both its stated primary and its secondary roles of peacekeeping in Africa and border control in South Africa.

The recent budget cut of R300 million comes on top of a R3,2 billion reduction in February this year from the 2009/2010 defence vote. The latter led to the DoD warning in March that it was underfunded by some R7,3 billion. Several defence experts have also recently warned that the South African National Defence Force will soon be facing a situation in which it will be impossible to fulfill its constitutional mandate.

The South African Air Force is probably hardest hit by the recent cuts. Because of underfunding the DoD’s strategic plan for 2010 to 2013 is to cut flight hours for the newly bought Gripen fighter aircraft from 550 this year to only 250 flight hours for 2011 and 2012. This means that even were the South African Air Force able to train a sufficient number of pilots for their 26 Gripen aircraft, these pilots would on average be flying only 10 hours total per year. NATO requires a single fighter pilot to log some 240 flight hours per year to remain qualified.

The South African Navy will also be forced into substantial cuts. The total number of sea hours spent by the Navy to patrol South Africa’s maritime zones and for exercises will fall from 11 000 this year to only 9 000 in 2011 and 2012. For South Africa, which is a maritime country, this should be extremely worrying.

The South African Army has been ordered by the Government to redeploy back to border control duties. This will of course further increase the financial strain on the DoD. The Army is also expected by Government to deploy nearly 2 100 personnel on external missions, a figure that may increase if there is a resurgence of conflict in Sudan or the Great Lakes.

It could be argued that defence budget cuts are keeping pace with international standards, in that several developed countries such as Britain, France, and Germany have recently announced extensive reductions in defence expenditure. Contradictory to this however, upcoming developing countries such as Brazil, India, and Russia, have dramatically increased their defence budgets over the past two years and are planning to continue this trend.

In September 1996 the South African Air Force flew its last long range patrol to the South African owned Prince Edward Island group in the South Atlantic. The aircraft that undertook this flight, a Boeing 707, has since been retired from service because of a lack of funding to maintain it. Since that time it is estimated that nearly a million tonnes of Patagonian toothfish have been illegally harvested from the area because of a lack of military control over the area by the South African Government resulting in a substantial financial loss to South Africa.

One can assume from the Medium Term Budget statement that the DoF is committed to curbing the notional cost of corruption and bad governance to the South African economy, but at the same time the financial consequences of not properly funding or equipping the SANDF have been grossly underestimated and one would have to ask whether the DoF has the proper expertise to make informed decisions about defence related issues.

Either the defence budget and the SANDF`s constitutional and defence commitments have to be reconciled or the country has to come to terms with the consequences of having security forces that are not fit for purpose. This will impact not only upon security policy, but upon South Africa`s international standing and its continental and regional commitments.