The South African National Defence Force appears to be escaping somewhat from the stranglehold of expenditure on the strategic defence procurement package as the repayment peaked last year and drops off from 2006 to 2008.
Of the total defence costs of R23,5billion for 2005, R9,2billion was allocated to the Strategic Defence Account, from where payment for the so-called “arms deal” is drawn. In 2006, those allocations will decline to R8,2billion, still 35% of the defence budget. The defence budget occupies a relatively robust 5,8% of total national Budget this year.
Looking at the medium-term projections, defence spending will have grown at an average rate of 7,8% between 2002 and 2008, once the acquisition costs have been stripped out, lessening the operational budget squeeze that the purchase of new-weapons systems initially created.
The department notes that, in the next few years, capital expenditure will focus on landward defence, where the acquisition of new-generation armoured vehicles will be the priority, and on improving military health support.
Overall, the focus appears to move from hardware to personnel, with significant funds being set aside for training, the recruitment of new young, skilled servicemen and the implementation of voluntary severance packages for a military bureaucracy that has become top-heavy with senior officers and lacking in young, fit and skilled personnel.
The allocation of an average annual 11,8% increase in the special-operations budget up to 2009 is aimed mainly at attracting and retaining special forces personnel, and is perhaps emblematic of the defence force’s return to its traditional military focus.
Although the Budget Review is notable for claiming the defence force met all its various force-readiness and operational targets, notable exceptions are the delay in bringing the Rooivalk attack helicopter into operational service and the failure to implement phase one of the ground-based air defence system. Both are blamed on “delays in the manufacturing process”.