Treasury may foil SANDF border deployments

The National Treasury has cut the South African National Defence Force’s “Support to the People” budget from R158.3 million in the current budget to R113.9 million in the new government financial year that starts on April 1. Yet this is the budget that must pay for the military’s return to the borders under a Cabinet decision made last November.

According to a briefing by the Chief of Joint Operations (J Ops), Lieutenant General Themba Matanzima and his Chief Director for Operations, Rear Admiral Philip Schöultz, to the National Assembly last week, the military will re-introduce foot- and standing patrols, observation and listening posts, vehicle control points, reaction force and follow up operations (to include the extended border area) and depth operations (“road blocks to a depth of 20km to the rear of the borderline in conjunction with the SAPS”) in addition to intelligence operations to collect information on illegal cross border activities.

Matanzima and Schöultz added the SANDF would return to the borders in a phased manner, starting in April with the Zimbabwean and Mozambican borders under “Operation Corona”. They recommended the deployment of four companies, one each to Pontdrift and Beitbridge, facing Zimbabwe, Macadamia opposite Mozambique and Ndumo in northern KwaZulu-Natal. At a cost of R25 million each, the deployment will cost R100 million for the financial year to March 2011. They further recommended the expenditure of R8 million on communications infrastructure, R5 million on base repair, R7 million to mend fences and R15 million on vehicles. But this presumed a “Support to the People” budget of R158 million, which is not the case.

Despite the November announcement, the Treasury’s Estimates of National Expenditure (ENE) for defence for the upcoming year only notes that the SANDF “may” remain on the country’s borders after the June-July soccer World Cup when their current mandate lapses. It is not immediately clear if the military will now cut their deployment “coat” according to their budget “cloth” or whether the budgeted amount will be increased to ensure there is adequate cloth for the coat.

Meanwhile, ENE data shows that the Joint Operations Division that Matanzima heads, accounts for 6.2% of the defence department’s total expenditure. Expenditure in this programme will increase from R1.5 billion in FY2006/07 to R2.1 billion in FY2012/13, at an average annual rate of 5.6%. An increase of 16.5% in 2010/11 in the Operational Direction subprogramme is due to the staffing of operational structures. The decrease of 6.8% in the Defence Capability Management subprogramme from FY2009/10 to FY2010/11 is due to the non-recurrent expenditure for last year’s Southern Africa standby brigade exercise.
“Over the MTEF period, expenditure will focus on the strategic and operational direction for the programme. This includes: planning and control of joint, interdepartmental and multinational exercises; peace support operations; general military assistance and support to other government departments; and the provision of a special forces capability,” the ENE says.

Objectives and measures set for J Ops by Treasury are:

• providing and employing special operations capability in line with national requirements
• conducting an average of 12 external peace missions per year in accordance with requirements to promote peace and security
• conducting 21 joint, interdepartmental and multinational military force preparation exercises over the next three years (excluding Special Forces and multinational air transport exercises)
• conducting an average of 4 missions per year in support of other government departments and complying with international obligations.

The ENE notes that in FY2008/09, approximately 2900 military personnel, including 255 reserves, were deployed daily in six peace support operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Ethiopia and Eritrea, Sudan, Uganda, Southern Sudan and Nepal, and to three general military assistance operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic and Uganda. The UN Security Council extended the mandate of the UN peace building office in Burundi until December 31 2009, resulting in South African forces being deployed
longer than planned.
“In general, the shortage of specialist technical staff and support negatively affected operations in all the missions. To address this, the South African Army is currently training members in the Technical Services Corps, Ordinance Services Corps and the South African Catering Corps, and is recruiting members from within the army, thus creating the opportunity for a second career and
also addressing the shortage of specialists,” the ENE added.
“In the first half of 2009/10, an average of 2680 members per day, including reserves, were deployed to conduct regional security. The South African National Defence Force’s involvement in Burundi was terminated at the end of June 2009; however, a small contingent will remain behind until all equipment is back loaded to South Africa. The AU mission in northern Uganda-Southern Sudan and the UN mission in Nepal were concluded in 2009. The assistance operation in the Central African Republic will terminate in February 2010.
“An average of 195 South African National Defence Force members were deployed in the first half of 2009/10 in cooperation with the South African Police Service along the South Africa-Zimbabwe border. The South African National Defence Force played a major role in safety and security support during the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup and is preparing to play a similar role during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. It also successfully hosted and participated in the SADC exercise to test the intervention capability of the Southern Africa standby brigade at the South African Army Combat Training Centre in September 2009.
“Nationally, 501 South African National Defence Force members were deployed during the 2009 elections in cooperation with the South African Police Service. Some of these members also acted as electoral officials for the Electoral Commission in Mpumalanga. The South African National Defence Force, in cooperation with the South African Police Service, participated in maintaining safety and security in anti-crime operations in KwaZulu-Natal in the run up to the 2009 elections.
“From April to September 2009, successful internal search and rescue and disaster aid relief actions were executed in support of other government departments, including the search for a missing vessel in distress in East London, rescue and medical evacuation of civilians in mountains, rescuing seamen from a bulk carrier that ran aground, and supporting the National Sea Rescue Institute in Port Elizabeth. In 2008, the South African National Defence Force cooperated with the South African Police Service during specific events such as the SADC Heads of State Summit, and with combating attacks against foreign nationals,” the ENE document noted.