The Department of Defence’s budget has risen to R25,9-billion to meet the rising cost of peacekeeping operations, skills-development programmes and the military’s need to beef up its airlift capacity.
Tabling his 2007/08 budget in Parliament on Wednesday, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) had ”assisted significantly” in helping reduce a number of African conflicts.
The 2007/08 budget allocation is R2-billion up on the previous year, and forecast to rise to R28,6-billion by 2009/10.
Manuel said the SANDF had to be beefed up.
”We now have peacekeeping operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Sudan and [Côte d’Ivoire].
”The SANDF receives additional allocations to acquire airlift capacity, for exchange-rate adjustments to the strategic defence package and for the military skills development programme …,” he said.
According to the 2007 budget review document, the SANDF will spend R2,8-billion of its budget on African peacekeeping operations.
Future missions also include offering support during elections in, among other countries, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal. — Sapa