Cabinet has approved the deployment of 1 100 South African soldiers to Burundi as part of an African Union special task force, government communications head Themba Maseko said on Thursday.
This was at the request of the AU and as part of South Africa’s commitment to contribute to socio-economic and political stability on the continent, he told a media briefing after Cabinet’s fortnightly meeting on Wednesday.
”This deployment will contribute to peace and stability in Burundi and ensure that the progress towards peace in that country is not reversed,” he said.
Maseko dismissed suggestions that South Africa was discriminatory in sending troops to Burundi but not to Somalia.
It is important not to overstretch the resources of the South African National Defence Force.
South Africa has been involved in Burundi for ”quite some time”, he said.
”This is basically increasing our involvement in Burundi and the view is that because we’ve worked in Burundi and made so much progress, it’s absolutely vital … that in areas where we’re already involved, it’s important for us to make sure that we consolidate the gains we have made there and make sure that we don’t revert.”
Infrastructure delivery
Cabinet has also approved a plan to improve and speed up infrastructure delivery, Maseko said.
He said Wednesday’s Cabinet meetings had approved a framework to align infrastructure delivery cycles with the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework budget cycle.
This would improve planning, implementation and ensure better cash-flow management that would include dealing with the fourth quarter spending ”spike”.
”This framework accommodates the long lead time before infrastructure projects reach the construction stage,” he said. — Sapa