SA’s soldiers and sailors are paying the ultimate price as the government’s attempts to rein in public spending over the medium term further erode the capabilities of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF).
While the reasons for last week’s submarine tragedy near Kommetjie in the Western Cape are still subject to the findings of a naval board of inquiry, it has been established the navy’s three submarines hadn’t been operational until recently. A lack of funding and spares hampered the SAS Manthatisi’s first refit in 2014 after it was brought into service in 2006.
The refit of the SAS Manthatisi was completed earlier this year followed by sea trials and retraining of crew. Last week’s tragedy in adverse sea conditions, including 10-metre swells, claimed the lives of three crew: Lieutenant-Commander Gillian Hector, second-in-command of the submarine and the first female submarine officer in the navy; the coxswain, Master Warrant Officer William Mathipa; and the coxswain under training, Warrant Officer Mmokwapa Mojela.
SAS Manthatisi’s commanding officer Charles Phokane was rescued without showing any vital signs, but was revived by medical personnel on the scene and is recovering in hospital.
Earlier the same day four troops from 8 SA Infantry Battalion in Upington were killed in an accident involving two military trucks en route to the Lohatla Combat Training Centre some 200km away. One of the trucks was being towed when it burst a tyre, causing both vehicles to overturn. Another two soldiers were critically injured.
Towing is against military regulations but no military recovery vehicle was available.
Shortly before Christmas in 2021 a special forces operator from Phalaborwa, Cpl Teboho Radebe, was mortally wounded in battle against insurgents in northern Mozambique. The SANDF is part of a Sadc intervention deployment in Cabo Delgado despite severe budget constraints and limitations in serviceable equipment and aircraft.
Radebe and two other wounded comrades were able to get to a landing zone where they were attacked twice more before an Oryx helicopter could rescue them. By that time Radebe had died. The soldiers had to commit to the battle without any available air cover.
The SA Air Force has two helicopters in Mozambique serving as logistics supply aircraft as well as air cover for operations and emergency evacuations.
Three Oryxs are serving in the Democratic Republic of Congo and only three more are serviceable for operations in SA, including support for the SA Police Service.
In line with the National Treasury’s instructions to all state departments, the department of defence was notified it had to cut an additional R1.9bn from an already limited allocation before the medium-term budget policy statement on November 1.
SANDF salaries account for about 80% of the total defence budget, while R2.4bn in salary increases this year remains unfunded. Treasury also demanded that the SANDF cut personnel. An additional R1.5bn was provided, but a further R2bn for severance packages is unfunded.
Those amounts, together with R2.9bn in irregular spending debited against the defence account, will leave the SANDF in the red by R9.2bn. Military analysts say the operations budget will have to be cut even further, leaving less money for training and maintenance of equipment.
In response to questions from parliament’s joint standing committee on defence, the SANDF said additional enforced savings will mean fewer troops on the border and for other operations.
“The unplanned deployments to curb the torching of trucks along the main supply routes and the protection of Eskom power stations [are] ... but some of these [operations],” said SANDF chief of staff Lt-Gen Michael Ramantswana.
“The SANDF overspends its reserve man days owing to the ever-increasing taskings by government through executive orders of the president and commander-in-chief [Cyril Ramaphosa].”
It is not the first time the generals and defence minister Thandi Modise have warned the government that the drastic decline in the defence budget could threaten national sovereignty.
Ramaphosa said he “was deeply saddened by the loss of three crew members”, adding: “This is a sad loss for our nation and for our brave armed forces in particular who routinely face danger in order so that all of us can be safe and secure.”
The Treasury is awaiting proposals from the SANDF for its cost-saving measures.
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