Defence budget up, but not much

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Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan is boosting defence spending. He told Parliament today in his annual budget vote that further allocations are being made for assistance in safeguarding the country’s borders and to upgrade and maintain border facilities and equipment.

“Additional funding of R1.3 billion in 2011/12, rising to R2 billion in 2013/14, will bring total expenditure on defence and state security to R38.4 billion next year, rising to R43.9 billion in the outer year.” The Estimates of National Expenditure however notes that the defence budget is R34.605 billion, rising to R39.702 billion in 2013/14, indicating the remainder is for the Ministry of State Security.

The ENE adds R600 million of the defence allocation is allocated to deploy soldiers to the country’s borders and upgrade and improve border facilities and equipment. The defence allocation is in line with expectations. Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Lindiwe Sisulu yesterday let slip that her department would receive R500 million more than the R34 billion pencilled into last year February’s ENE.

Sisulu said her department had asked for an additional budget of R5 billion for the year starting April 1. “If we get that, we will then just scrape by,” she told journalists while speaking at a briefing on the planned activities of the international cooperation, trade and security cluster for the next financial year. Secretary for Defence Mpumi Mpofu then handed Sisulu a note, after which the minister said the budget would be up R500 million only.

Gordhan’s February 2010 ENE predicted R33.931 billion for the new year. The R34.6 billion budget is up from the R30.7 billion allocated last February for the year that ends next month. The amount was reduced in October to R30.4 billion, however.

The cuts were part of an “efficiency saving” imposed on the department amounting to R8 billion over three years from last April. The cuts came at a time when state revenues were down sharply because of the 2008-9 recession and government was under pressure to deliver better social service. But the cuts also came as Members of Parliament, defence officials and commentators warned that the budget – even before the efficiency drive – was insufficient and that cost-cutting was damaging the military. “Our budget is woeful,” Sisulu said yesterday morning, adding that she did not want to say that too often, as it “does not endear us to Treasury.”