Wednesday, 9 July 2025 at 09h00

Good Hope Chamber

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Honourable Members,

I address you today with a sense of our collective duty as South Africans to uplift, uphold and protect our gains as a nation, won for us by a generation who sacrificed all for justice and freedom. Through their unyielding faith in a better future for their children, they created the conditions that saw our Constitution take shape. Today we enjoy freedoms, rights and protection under the law thanks to that Constitution. Our Constitution holds us together as a nation, and we must do everything we can to ensure that we retain an attitude of deference to it, valuing it, implementing it and protecting it.

It is in protecting it that our national Defence Force plays an indispensable role. Without our Defence Force, we would not have the capabilities to back up our claims as a nation with force, if necessary, in a highly volatile world. This military backup must be in place as we advance in all other areas, for without it, all other areas could slip away in an instant.  We should approach this budget, therefore, with a sense of the goodness we defend, the values we stand for, and our pride as a sovereign nation. Our freedom has been hard won, and we are honour-bound to defend it. 

The South African National Defence Force is impelled by Section 200 (2) of our Constitution to be the guardians of our sovereignty, protecting our territorial integrity. This is not an abstract mandate – it affects every aspect of our development.  We therefore need to ensure that, as in all other areas of our progress as a nation, our Defence Force is kept in tip-top condition –   well-resourced, properly structured, and fully prepared to navigate the complex security challenges that constantly arise in the world and in our region.  We cannot allow fiscal challenges to undermine the capacity of this crucial institution in our democratic order.

Therefore, honourable members, let us view our Defence Force’s proposed budget for what it is – a strategic expenditure that protects our nation in a multitude of ways. Apart from defending our borders and thus the values enshrined in our Constitution, it helps to ensure regional stability, without which, there can be little internal stability. What happens across our borders directly affects us. It also offers a crucial backup for internal emergencies beyond the scope of other state departments.

The budget for the 2025/2026 financial year is currently R57 billion. This represents a 1.6% real-term decrease from the previous year, which is hardly ideal. The Portfolio Committee has engaged extensively with National Treasury, the Department of Defence, Armscor, and Denel on the risks caused by underfunding and the urgency of prioritising defence in our national budget so that the SANDF does not lose its capabilities. We cannot allow the Defence Force, already under pressures of various kinds, to decline.

Currently, the SANDF faces the challenge of aging equipment and limited funds to procure new equipment. This results in declining morale among our troops and a constrained ability to respond to crises, as we recently witnessed with the floods in Mthatha. It is imperative that we move with a sense of urgency to finalise discussions with the Presidency and National Treasury for the 2026/27 financial year, so that the budget is able to ensure our operational readiness to act. The SANDF requires long-term fiscal certainty to do the necessary strategic planning, especially given the complexity of military procurement and development projects. The SANDF is also a rapidly ageing force, and this has been identified by the Committee as a key area of intervention along with concerns around high proportional spending on Compensation of Employees. Concrete discussions are under way between the Committee, National Treasury and the Department for the development of a rejuvenation plan that will give more young South Africans a chance to serve in the SANDF, while carefully managing the opportunities for ageing soldiers.

Honourable members, as we have seen in conflicts around the world, the modern battlefield has evolved. It is important that we have an SANDF that is agile and technologically advanced, so that it may respond effectively to cyber and information warfare, the complexities of a technological battlefield, and is also able to deal effectively with an increasing number of climate-induced crises. The Committee has called for an urgent conclusion of the Executive’s drawn-out process of reconsidering the 2015 defence Review and other strategic planning documents. The Committee called for the urgent finalization of the Defence Capstone Policy document and the revised Military Strategy to guide our Defence Force and ensure that it remains relevant and responsive in a volatile security environment. It must be said again that the implementation of these plans will only be possible with long-term funding certainty. The Committee has made several recommendations in the budget report aimed at achieving long-term funding certainty.

Armscor is central to our defence procurement. Amidst challenges of underfunding, we commend the strides they have made in improving turnaround times, reducing procurement costs and developing alternative income sources. Armscor is also critical in accelerating the transformation agenda within the defence industry supply chain, which is designed to ensure the creation of meaningful opportunities for emerging black-owned enterprises, women, and youth, in line with the priorities of our democratic state.

Despite the challenges faced by our Defence Force, it is one of our country’s greatest assets. Its technological capabilities are such that we are able to manufacture some of our prime mission equipment internally, which both ensures our independence and contributes to the country’s broader industrialisation strategy. It is also important that Denel is repositioned to contribute even more to skills development, job creation and technological innovation, which are all critical for the socioeconomic wellbeing of our country. These are important considerations as we vote on the budget today.

Another vital consideration, Honourable Members, is South Africa’s commitment to peacekeeping, one of the central pillars of our foreign policy. Conflicts in other parts of the continent and the world have a bearing on our own stability. The deployment of our soldiers to missions authorised by the SADC and the African Union are a practical embodiment of our commitment and contribution to the African peace and security architecture, which benefits our continent and ourselves. For instance, R3 billion has been allocated for the safe withdrawal of our troops from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where they performed an important role in the ongoing peace process; now that that role is no longer required, we are prudently returning our soldiers and equipment. As this House, we salute every member of the SANDF who serves bravely on these missions. Their sacrifices demonstrate commitment to our flag and our values, and it is partly through their efforts that we continue to earn respect across the continent.

Lastly, Honourable Members, let us remember our military veterans. These brave men and women have defended our nation, maintained law and order in crises, and enabled swift responses in disasters. Like all other public servants, they deserve financial support when they are no longer able to serve. So far, we have rolled out pension benefits to 3659 veterans (as of December 2024), but we cannot rest until the target of 6500 beneficiaries has been achieved. The dignity of our veterans must be protected, in keeping with our Constitution that recognises the worth of every human being.

As Members of Parliament, let us unite behind a vision of a capable, modern SANDF that can defend our sovereignty, support regional peace, and uphold the promise of the Constitution. Let us ensure that every veteran, every soldier, and every South African sees, through our words and our votes, that we stand committed to the safety, dignity, and progress of our nation. Our Defence Force does all this, and more, and is worthy of a budget that enables it to carry its many duties with excellence. 

THANK YOU