Chairperson of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA), Songezo Zibi, has warned that South Africans must face the harsh reality that there is not enough money to adequately fund the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) without cutting other critical programmes. His remarks come amid a heated blame game between the South African Navy and the National Treasury over chronic budget shortfalls.
Budget Blame Game
The debate escalated after Admiral Mantsane Lobese accused the National Treasury of sabotaging the SANDF by withholding funds—a claim Treasury has firmly denied. Instead, Treasury insists that the defence force must address its own internal mismanagement before expecting increased allocations.
Zibi, however, argues that the Treasury is being unfairly scapegoated. “The commander-in-chief [President Cyril Ramaphosa] is also the chairperson of Cabinet, and it is Cabinet that approves the budget before tabling it to Parliament,” he said. “To simply blame the National Treasury is disingenuous.”
A “Financial Horror Story”
The SANDF’s financial woes run deep. Zibi described the department’s audit outcomes as a “horror story,” citing years of disclaimed audits, poor record-keeping, and wasteful expenditure—including purchasing obsolete medical equipment and funding questionable foreign ventures.
Key issues include:
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Aging personnel: The average age of combat-ready soldiers is nearly 40, far older than the ideal age of 21-25.
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Outdated equipment: Much of the SANDF’s hardware is misaligned with its current mandate.
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Lack of accountability: The military reportedly refuses to submit to civilian oversight, with senior officers bypassing the Secretary of Defence on administrative matters.
Political Patronage and Leadership Crisis
Zibi highlighted a deeper cultural problem within the SANDF, where promotions are allegedly based on political loyalty rather than competence. “If you don’t come from a liberation movement background, you battle to get promoted,” he said, referencing complaints from younger officers.
This patronage system, coupled with financial mismanagement, has eroded trust in the defence force’s ability to use additional funding responsibly. “We cannot appropriate tens of billions more to people who are going to misuse it, steal it, and refuse to be accountable,” Zibi stated.
Tough Choices Ahead
Zibi stressed that increasing the SANDF’s budget would require either raising taxes or cutting other government programmes—a trade-off South Africans have been reluctant to confront. “People treat budgeting like Christmas, where there must be money for everything,” he said. “But choices must be made.”
He called for urgent leadership changes, particularly in procurement and financial management, before any significant budget increases are considered. The Minister of Defence is expected to appear before SCOPA later this year to account for progress in implementing reforms.
A Matter of National Security
The debate takes on added urgency following the deaths of South African soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where under-resourced troops faced deadly attacks. Zibi warned that without proper funding and reform, the SANDF’s operational capacity will continue to decline—jeopardising both national and regional security.
“South Africans must wake up,” Zibi said. “We need a functional defence force, but we cannot keep throwing money at a broken system.”
As the standoff between the military and Treasury continues, the ball now lies in the court of the President and Cabinet to decide whether to prioritise defence spending—and at what cost to other critical services.