{"id":7610,"date":"2013-07-22T13:38:15","date_gmt":"2013-07-22T13:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/praag.org\/?p=7610"},"modified":"2013-07-22T13:42:02","modified_gmt":"2013-07-22T13:42:02","slug":"sa-military-spending-could-soon-double","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praag.org\/?p=7610","title":{"rendered":"SA military spending could soon double"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"militaryspending\"<\/a>MILITARY spending could increase from R38 billion to R83 billion a year and the total size of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) could be doubled in the near future.<\/p>\n

This is if government decides to implement the recommendations of the Defence Review committee’s 2013 report.<\/p>\n

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It explains that while South Africa now spends 1.1% of GDP on the military, “international donor agencies have used the figure of 2% of GDP as being a reasonable amount for a developing country to spend on defence when it is at peace, is not faced with instability in its immediate region or with any direct threat”.<\/p>\n

But if the SANDF is to be equipped to operate effectively in the current strategic environment in which there is increased instability, it would require South Africa to “increase the capabilities of its peace-time force”.<\/p>\n

This would entail employing 207 000 people and receiving funding “in the order of R83 billion in 2013\/14 rand value, equating to 2.7% of GDP and 7.1%” of government spending”.<\/p>\n

The Citizen recently reported that the report also recommends the acquisition of new military hardware, which could cost as much as R100 billion, according to sources.<\/p>\n

Department of Defence (DOD) spokesman Siphiwe Dlamini criticised the report, saying that recommendations that billions be spent were contained in a draft report that had not yet been finally accepted by the department.<\/p>\n

“The fact of the matter is that the portfolio committee on defence and military veterans has requested to visit the Department of Defence as part of their oversight function.<\/p>\n

“The programme and agenda was designed by the committee and communicated to the DOD. It is concerning to the DOD that such a programme is splashed all over The Citizen newspaper with innuendos.”<\/p>\n

Whatever weapon systems finally end up being acquired, concerns have been raised about who will operate them. Pikkie Greef, national secretary of the South African National Defence Union (Sandu), told The Citizen the frigates and submarines bought in the 1999 arms deal are tied up in docks because there aren’t enough sailors to staff them.<\/p>\n

“We also don’t have enough pilots to fly the aircraft that we bought in the last arms deal.<\/p>\n

“The SANDF does not have proper mobile catering trucks. That means that the SANDF cannot properly feed its soldiers in the field.<\/p>\n

“It is ridiculous to consider buying warships when we cannot even give an infantryman a hot meal. The Defence Review committee was supposed to consult with all role players \u2013 but they have certainly not consulted in any way with the only trade union that organises within the SANDF.”<\/p>\n

Greef said that staffing levels in the navy were such that there are not enough sailors to put two frigates to sea at the same time.<\/p>\n

“The last arms acquisition process was shrouded in secrecy and loaded with corruption as a result. One hopes that in future acquisition processes are conducted openly and transparently \u2013 as the constitution says they should.”<\/p>\n

The Defence Review suggests that billions should be spent on arms in order that South Africa can “influence the international agenda through optimised defence diplomacy and active multi-lateral and bi-lateral engagements”.<\/p>\n

Terry Crawford Browne of Economists Allied for Arms Reduction said: “I know that the figure of R100 billion and more has been bandied about.”<\/p>\n

The upcoming meeting of Parliament’s defence portfolio committee “will discuss programmes relating to the Strategic Defence Review, which recommends we go on another major spending spree, which will no doubt provide many nice back-handers for the well connected.<\/p>\n

“It seems ridiculous to even consider buying arms when we cannot provide toilets and clean water. We don’t need to engage in gunboat diplomacy and warmongering.” – citizen.co.za<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MILITARY spending could increase from R38 billion to R83 billion a year and the total size of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) could be doubled in the near future. This is if government decides to implement the recommendations of the Defence Review committee’s 2013 report. It explains that while South Africa now spends 1.1% … Continue reading “SA military spending could soon double”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[4146,4147,4145,772],"class_list":["post-7610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-south-africa","tag-defence-review-committee-2013","tag-peace-time-force","tag-sa-military-spending","tag-sandf"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/praag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/militaryspending.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7610"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7613,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7610\/revisions\/7613"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}