Cape Town | Wednesday
DESPITE initial estimates of R1,5-billion, the cost of deploying South African troops in Burundi should not cost more than R535-million, even if the operation lasts a year.
This is according to Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota, who says he is confident South Africa will be reimbursed for all expenses incurred during the operation.
A total of 701 South African troops — one battalion plus support personnel — were sent to Burundi in the week prior to the swearing in of that country’s interim government on November 1.
Briefing Parliament’s defence joint standing committee on Wednesday, Lekota said it was likely a cease-fire agreement between the interim government and rebel groups would be signed before the initial six-month deployment came to an end.
Ghana, Senegal and Nigeria all had soldiers on standby for immediate deployment — on a rotational basis with South Africa — once the cease-fire was signed.
If this did not happen, however, provision had been made to rotate the South African troops with replacements for a further six months. The soldiers’ mission was to protect Burundi’s political leaders returning from exile, and this had been endorsed by the United Nations Security Council.
Lekota said besides being committed to world peace, South Africa owed it to the international community, which had helped ”us be free” in South Africa.
Although the atmosphere in Burundi was currently ”relaxed and pleasant”, the number of troops deployed could not be reduced soon because the situation might change if tensions escalated.
The South African contingent was also training about 600 young Burundians, who would be able to take over their duties after six months, Lekota said.
But, once the cease-fire agreement had been signed, the plan was to rotate the South African, Senegalese, Ghanaian, and Nigerian battalions every six months during the interim government’s three-years in office.
Earlier, departmental official Rautie Rautenbach told the committee that operational costs for the first six months, including deployment, transfers and the like, would come to about R253-million.
Costs for a further six months would be around R281-million, bringing the total for a year to R535-million.
This was considerably less than earlier estimates of around R1,5-billion, which had been based on the deployment of 1467 troops, and various other costs that would no longer be incurred.
Although there was ”no indication” of the extent of donor funding at this stage, contributions were expected to come from, among others, Belgium, the United States, and Great Britain, he said. – Sapa