Defence
27 March 2007
Madam Speaker
Ministers present
Members of the Joint Standing Committee on Defence and the Portfolio Committee
on Defence
Secretary for Defence
Senior officials
Officials
Generals
Admirals
Members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF)
May I draw the attention of the House, to our 12 women generals present here
today!
SANDF is in demand everywhere
Introduction
This year's budget speech takes places against the backdrop of the most
diverse deployment of the SANDF troops since the birth of our democracy. As we
speak, the sons and daughters of our nation are staffing missions in theatres
of conflict in Africa and beyond.
They willingly face risks and dangers of varying degrees in order to advance
national, continental and universal objectives of building a peaceful future
for humankind.
Our troops are guardians of peace in Ethiopia Eritrea, they nurture
burgeoning democracies of Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
ensured free and fair elections in the Comoros, Madagascar and Lesotho.
Alongside sister African forces they monitor and enforce compliance with the
Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement in the sweltering heat of the Darfur in the
Sudan, they are providing much needed support to the Central African Republic
in repulsing waves of attacks by northern rebels intent on overthrowing a
democratically elected government. As we speak they are supporting the Nepalese
government in the disarmament, demobilisation and re-integration processes
preparatory for elections.
The SANDF is the mainstay of most of these operations.
Not only has it distinguished itself in these areas but alongside the work
our nation is doing on the diplomatic front, it is contributing in no small
measure to the rising profile of our country. Indeed its performance is not
only acknowledged in all these countries but the SANDF is now in demand
everywhere.
For this we must raise our hats in salute of the troops and leaders of the
SANDF. The best of the youth of our country who serve without compulsion but
out of love and loyalty to their people.
Peacekeeping
Peacekeepers who are placed into conflict areas must provide security and
protection for the civilian population. They must first and foremost stop the
ongoing fighting. They must then be able to re-direct the energies of the
people into reconstruction activities. They must be able to pursue integrated
approaches to repatriation, resettlement, reintegration and rehabilitation of
refugees, the internally displaced, ex-combatants and their families, paying
particular attention to women and children victims of violence. They must plan
and implement comprehensive and well-blended disarmament, demobilisation,
rehabilitation and reintegration (DDRR) programmes as a basis for consolidating
safety and security.
South Africa's approach to security: Security Sector Reform (SSR)
Central to making our interventions sustainable and in line with the
principles of SSR, we have to ensure that the thinking of the leaders of new
democracies is directed towards respect and loyalty for their Constitution.
Peacekeeping interventions do not end with elections. The alarming number of
conflict prone countries underscores the need for a broader approach to
conflict prevention, one that avoids an artificial divide between pre-conflict,
crisis and post conflict. It also indicates the need for an appropriate mix of
political, security, humanitarian and developmental responses. Securing a just
sustainable peace in a conflict prone situation means building strong
transparent states with professional, civilian led military and police. It
means developing a democratic framework that tolerates diversity. It means
building an open civil society that promotes democratic governance and personal
security. And it means instilling in all state institutions but especially the
security forces, a culture of democracy rooted in respect for the rule of law
and individual rights and dignity.
The concept SSR encompasses democratic oversight, civil society, defence
reform, intelligence and security services, border management, policing,
justice, prisons and private security companies. The object of SSR is to create
a secure and safe environment for the affected state and its population through
the re-establishment of the architecture and structure of the State. Its
inclusive nature includes all sectors of the security cluster. The activities
in the security cluster are based on the concept of human security as
stipulated and defined in the African Union's (AUs) peace and security
committee's mandate, the Common African Defence and Security Policy.
Whilst the concept of SSR encompasses the transformation and stabilisation
of the whole of the security sector, on our continent it deals predominantly
with defence institutions. It is a political process and to be successful it
must be participatory. It must involve local ownership and because it has to
pay attention to non-State actors and security and justice institutions, its
approach must encompass the whole of government. But it is more than
governance, it is also about operational effectiveness. In other words when the
strengthening of new democracies becomes a priority, the security organs of the
state must be transformed and secured.
We are the main implementation arm of foreign policy
Defence policy is classically regarded as a subset of foreign policy. Our
approach is that defence is politics by other means. In the current period the
Defence Force must be seen as an instrument of politics. Defence strategy
therefore is the art and science of employing the defence forces of a nation to
secure the objectives of national policy. The Department of Defence will
continue to contribute to African unity by focusing in on our common political
objectives. This will require a lot of political work to ensure that other
African countries understand unity as we do both at the level of political
leadership and at the level of military leadership.
We continue to increase our diplomatic defence missions abroad. We now have
defence representation in 31 countries, 17 of which are in Africa.
It requires careful calculation to place people in strategic positions.
Changed strategic environment
The appearance of non-state actors in different shapes and forms, including
private security firms and private military companies needs to be reckoned
with.
Private military/security companies are able to intervene in conflicts
tilting the balance of power in favour of their paymasters. They have the
potential to undermine legitimate, constitutional democracies. Whilst
"terrorism" has been identified by the "developed world" as the biggest threat,
we maintain that poverty and underdevelopment are the biggest threats to
democracies in the developing world because it exposes our people to
manipulation by those of wealthier countries. Competition for 'scarce'
resources is another source of insecurity across the continent.
It is in this context that we can understand the situation in Somalia.
Transformation of defence industry
Very early in our new democracy, it was determined by the Executive that the
defence industry was a strategic asset. Motivated by the desire to be self
reliant, the government directed that all efforts should be made to retain as
many of our strategic capabilities as possible. We remain committed to our
Defence Related Industries as a result.
Our strategic capabilities are weighed against our threat analysis and our
national security plans.
Consequently we encourage and are in support of all those initiatives which
are intended to re-structure our defence related industries such that most of
the home grown industries survive far into the future. When it comes to
acquisition therefore, we will prioritise commodities which are either
domestically developed or those in which South African industries have a stake.
The South African defence industry is now under the microscope with a view to
its growth and development. Emphasis is being placed on an integrated approach
to the transformation of the defence industry. It is a key industry in the
South African economy and all role players must participate in this
transformation. This includes of course, various government departments, the
defence industry itself and the private sector.
The Minister of Public Enterprises and I, working in consultation with the
Minister of Science and Technology, set up several working groups to
rationalise Armscor and Denel. The recommendations of the workgroups are now in
the final stages of discussion. Denel, under the political direction of
Minister Erwin has been re-structured and re-organised. Armscor, under the
political direction of the Minister of Defence is being streamlined as an
acquisition division of the Department of Defence. The research agencies and
divisions of both Denel and Armscor, will reside in a new body called the
Defence Evaluation and Research Institute (DERI).
Department of Defence (DoD) has to respond to these challenges. We have done
extremely well this year. Despite all the problems, we were ready!
Republic of South Africa is currently the 10th largest contributor to United
Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations. Our list of accomplishments is
impressive.
Apart from what I have already said at the opening of my speech, the SANDF
is also deployed in Mozambique providing humanitarian assistance and disaster
relief due to the floods. We have yet another contingent in Mozambique to
support efforts after the explosion at their ammunitions dump.
Until December 2006, 49 members of the SANDF were deployed in support of the
implementation of the demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration process in
the Ivory Coast. Our involvement contributed to the successful negotiations
which have taken place there in recent months.
Last but not least, we have responded to a request from the World Cricket
Cup to provide assistance with security in the West Indies.
The SANDF is in demand everywhere.
South African Development Community (SADC) Brigade
The Africa Standby Force was conceived by the African Union (AU) as a rapid
reaction force. It is composed of five regional brigades. The SADC Brigade is
being launched in August this year in Tanzania. It will have all the features
of a rapid reaction force. It is very important that all the countries of our
region participate in developing and sustaining peace and stability on the
continent. The participation by all SADC member countries must increase
interoperability and commonality. This in turn will strengthen our capacity to
meet our challenges, whatever they may be. We must put in place a system or a
process by which all requests from the AU or from wherever else are processed
at the SADC level so that the SADC Brigade can be deployed rather than troops
of individual countries.
Administrative processes
It has been very distressing for the leadership of the Ministry and the
Department that once more we received a qualified audit in the financial year
2005/06. The slight improvement shown from the previous year does not provide
much comfort. At this point, I do want to say the Department has already tabled
impressive corrective measures before a committee of Parliament. The
ministerial work session also scrutinised the situation last week and charted a
way forward to eliminate the main source of the problem leading to this
qualified audit.
I'm now in a position to say that I feel confident that very soon this
qualified audit will be history.
Ministerial priorities
The priorities I have set out for the forthcoming financial year are as
follows:
1. Infrastructure
Many DoD facilities are in urgent need of renovation. This is the result of
insufficient resources allocated for repair and maintenance. We will be
creating a 'works brigade' ensuring an in house capacity to attend to all our
facilities.
In addition, we will be drawing up a master plan to deal with our
infrastructure. This plan will include priorities, costs and the development of
a phased approach.
2. Revitilisation of the reserve force
Progress continues to be made with the transformation and revitalisation of
the reserve force so that it can fulfil its primary role of providing the
majority of the conventional landward capability of the SANDF, whilst at the
same time supplementing the peace support missions conducted by the regular
force.
On any one day, the equivalents of two and a half battalions of reserves are
deployed on external operations, on our borders, in guarding key installations
and on administrative duties.
The initiative to revitalise the army conventional reserve, the largest
component of the SANDF reserve force has resulted in a strength of some 11 000
members of whom 66% are from previously disadvantaged backgrounds, representing
a 20% improvement over the past three years.
3. Information Technology (IT)
Like all other government Department we are working with National Treasury
on the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS).
This will greatly facilitate our administrative processes and upgrade our
level of accountability.
4. The modernisation of the army
The modernisation of the air force and South Africa Navy (SA Navy) is well
under way. It is now the turn of the SA Army to be modernised. This shall be
our main focus in the incoming period. This will take place sequentially and in
phases. First off is the necessity to align army vision 2015 with our medium
term expenditure framework (MTEF) priorities.
5. Operationalisation of the defence review update
The defence update provides a cogent argument on the levels of defence
required to respond to the strategic environment and the requirements posed by
the foreign and security policy of this government to meet the three strategic
defence objectives of defending the republic, promoting regional and
continental security, supporting our people and continually improving defence
capabilities.
Conclusion
I have devoted most of this budget speech to issues relating to the primary
mandate of the SANDF.
This must not create the impression that we have divested ourselves from the
secondary tasks of providing support to other departments.
On the contrary, we are forever seized with discharging our responsibilities
in this regard:
(a) We continuously maintain capabilities and are ready to provide all of the
necessary support to the Department of Provincial and Local Government whenever
disasters occasion at home and in the region. It is in this light that our
involvement in Mozambique recently has to be seen.
(b) We are similarly forever available to respond to any invitations from
the South African Police Services (SAPS) whenever called upon to do so. And on
a daily basis we are involved with SAPS in the battle against crime. And this
is particularly top priority in this year when government has declared crime a
priority task.
(c) The rest of government departments are equally welcome to call on our
support whenever the need arises.
My thanks to the Deputy Minister who has shared the burden of work with me
this year.
I would like to thank the Defence Secretary and the Chief of the SANDF who
are co-chairs of the Plenary Defence Staff Council.
My thanks also to the team in the defence secretariat, the generals and
admirals and all the men and women of the SANDF.
Last but not least, to my team in the Ministry.
I thank you!
Issued by: Ministry of Defence
27 March 2007
