Mluleki George, Deputy Minister of Defence
2 June 2006
Madame Chair
Very recently, Cabinet approved the deployment of South African troops to
the Comoros to secure the holding of true and fair elections there. The
elections were indeed peaceful and the new President has been inaugurated.
Cabinet has established an Inter Ministerial Committee on the Democratic
Republic of the Congo to work towards the success of the first elections there
on July 30, and to ensure the sustainability peace and stability. South African
National Defence Force (SANDF) will, amongst other things, be delivering 2 000
tons of ballot material to 14 distribution points in that vast country.
Much has been written, in the last year, about the state of readiness of the
SANDF
We present our budget to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) today,
within this context. And I would like to assure you, Madam Chair that the
National Defence Force is not only ready but will continue to be more ready in
the next year (and years ahead).
Readiness firstly, must proceed from the constitutional mandate placed on
our shoulders; secondly, must be linked to challenges (unforeseen sometimes)
which might arise and thirdly, must flow from objectives that our government
must achieve.
In so far as national security is a function first of diplomacy and secondly
of the military, we are ready beyond our borders and shores to reinforce all
diplomatic missions our nation undertakes. We are busy with this critical
defence function.
Since the democratisation of our country and the consequent isolation of our
nation from the community of nations, South Africa has made a paradigm shift
from the mentality of the apartheid years. We think now with the mind of a free
nation at liberty to participate with other nations of the world. We not only
enter but are welcomed as a partner in all fora. Consequently, our planning
knows no bounds.
But we are not drunk with the excitement of this dawn of a new era. We
proceed into the wider world with the necessary prudence of those who
understand the limitations of their situation and therefore especially that
priorities have to be chosen carefully.
In this paradigm Africa remains the priority and central area of focus in
the conduct of our foreign policy initiatives: Therefore we are ready to
reinforce continental and regional structures, in particular, the African Union
(AU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Stability is the key to the attainment of this goal and that is why the
National Defence Force carried out the mission to secure Barundi leaders, and
led the African Union Mission in Burundi (AMIB). After the recent democratic
elections in that country, the SANDF continues to sustain the burgeoning
democracy there.
As institutions of governance firm up, the economy of that country revives
and national life normalises, the SANDF will be withdrawn and be available for
deployment in new areas of concern.
Madame Chair
We are ready to continue to support the UN, through MONUC deployments, to
sustain the stability of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Yes, Madame Chair, we are relevantly ready, as indeed we are already at
work, to help secure elections at the end of July and to promote democracy in
the DRC by finalising the integration of the armed forces of an emerging
unified and Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In keeping with the SADC commitments we are giving all necessary support to
the SADC Organ in order to ensure that sister regional countries not only own
the process but actively make available what additional support may become
necessary for the success of the DRC process.
Madam Chair, we are ready and are supporting stability missions in Darfur,
Eritrea and Ethiopia. Presently the National Defence Force is already assisting
the reunification of the armed forces of the Cote D�Ivoire through technical
advice to the AU Mediation team as well as to the Chiefs of Staff as to how to
go about the Disarmaments, Demobilisation and Reintegration process (DDR).
In all of these missions the National Defence Force has deployed in these
theatres of conflict and tension, some 3 293 men and women, together with the
concomitant equipment.
But the readiness of the National Defence Force has to be measured also in
terms of its performance.
We exist for the purposes of executing successful missions. The success of
its operations is the only way in which the Department of Defence is assessed
and judged by our Government, other Governments, and the international
public.
The National Defence Force is ready to act, not on behalf of, but together
with other countries of our region and continent. To this end we are ready to
expand joint training and joint military exercises with other regional defence
forces.
We must open up on this front in order best to capacitate our neighbours so
as to enable them to join with us in future missions of the region and of the
continent.
Added to this is our abiding responsibility to strengthen SADC headquarters
and other relevant structures by both seconding staff and contributing
technically.
Our relations however, with sister regional states is a two way process. Our
Air Force has recently welcomed six Zimbabwean Air Force Pilots and six
Zimbabwean Air Force technicians to assist us with the training of our own
young people.
With all the successful deployments of the SANDF, we are ready to sustain
the Continental peace processes because they must eventually lock into the
NEPAD process of development. We are at all times working to ensure that peace
is sustained and that our achievements are not undermined.
These peacekeeping operations are conducted and managed in such a manner
that the possibilities of peace are firmly laid.
The SADC Brigade, the regional component of the Africa Standby Force, is
moving according to plan and we are hoping it will be fully operational by the
middle of 2006. The functioning of this Brigade will be a great step forward in
the development of SADC.
Our Constitutional mandate also directs that the �defence force must be
structured and managed as a disciplined military force�.
It must be capable of training and preparing men and women who will be
imbued with skills to fit into all the deployments at home and abroad.
In order to meet our �readiness� requirements, two years ago we embarked on
the re-organisation of the top level of the Department. We have to get the
balance right between the needs of the Public Finance Management Act and clear
accountability, within the framework of command and control.
The re-structuring focuses on the areas of logistics and human resources
wherein our most serious challenges lie. I believe that we have now found the
correct formula to respond to this challenge.
We have taken serious count of the last report of the Auditor-General and
recognise the gravity of qualified audits. I would like to report to the House
that the Accounting Officer, the Defence Secretary, has identified areas where
there are problems, and he has proposed to the Minister and the department,
plans to address and solve those problems.
Furthermore, the review of the Defence review is nearing completion. The
complexity of budgeting for a new force structure and design pushed our time
frame to the right and the work took longer than we thought. But we are back on
track and expecting to present to Parliament after the winter recess.
Within the Department of Defence (DOD) our concentration is on training
relevant training. Training which will prepare our men and women to execute
those functions which will produce the desired results.
Such training must include dispute resolution skills. It must imbue our men
and women with the skills to initiate post conflict reconstruction
activities.
This must be so because peacekeeping is more than just keeping warring
factions apart. On a daily basis peacekeepers need to do things which are not
normally considered �military�. In short, peacekeepers need to be trained in a
range of skills that articulate responsibilities that go beyond the comfort
zone of the military base and military barracks. In many ways, modern
peacekeeping is a much more difficult task than fighting wars.
The lessons drawn from other peacekeeping deployments are being incorporated
into our training programmes at different levels.
In the current African scenario, and for the foreseeable future, our
greatest and most urgent enemies are poverty, underdevelopment, and
environmental degradation.
We understand that the roots of conflict on our Continent arise from these
problems. We have come to realise that the thrust of our preparations should
aim at the culmination of the defeat of these evils. And to be successful we
need a more �flexible multi skilled force�.
Our Constitutional mandate to �Support the People of South Africa� is being
demonstrated by our continued support for Government activities and initiatives
like the securing of major events i.e. local elections, soccer world cup 2010
and national events like Youth Day, Woman�s Day etc.
Work on the re-organisation of the Defence Industry is now in full swing.
The DOD requires a defence industry that is able to maintain strategic
capabilities.
Together with the Department of Public Enterprises, we have set up work
groups to re-examine and align the interactions between Armscor and Denel. This
may result in amendments to, or even the repeal of the Armscor Act. The DOD is
looking at Denel�s re-structuring to ensure alignment with the requirements of
the DOD.
We are aiming for an Industry relationship that allows the SANDF to maintain
and develop those strategic and niche capabilities that secure our sovereignty
and ensure our ability to sustain our industry�s consumables without being
dependent on others. The South African industry is the largest and most
sophisticated in Africa and we must jealously safeguard it in the interests of
our Continent.
Emanating from our Strategic work sessions, and guided by our environmental
scan, we have allocated the following monies as our Ministerial priorities for
2006/07
* military skills development (MSD) system � RM100
(An intake of 4 300 is planned for 2006 which will bring MSD System members
strength to 9 500 for FY 2007/08)
* renewal of DOD information and communication systems RM50
* enhancing the capability of defence intelligence services � RM121
* readiness and serviceability of operational vehicles � RM RM150
* defence infrastructure � RM10
* expanded antiretroviral rollout � RM26
Honorable Members, we can be truly positive about the transformation of the
Department of Defence when we consider the outputs of the second Gender
Conference, held last week in Benoni. Decisions to correct gender imbalance in
the department and to incorporate gender issues into post conflict and
reconstruction and development plans will now be directed and managed according
to time frames initiated by the top management of the department.
Special thanks, must, as always, go to the rank and file, the men and women
of the SANDF, who make our country as a whole, so proud.
If the DOD is ready, able, and more than willing to ensure peace and
security across the Continent it is because these are the people who are ready
to serve whenever, wherever they are called upon.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Defence
2 June 2006
