DoD & DMV Strategic Plan, APP & budget allocation: Committee Staff briefings

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Defence and Military Veterans

01 May 2020
Chairperson: Mr V Xaba (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

Video: PC Defence and Military Veterans, 1 May 2020
Audio: DoD and DMV Strategic Plan, APP and budget allocation: Committee Staff briefings 

Government Departments & Entities 20/2021 APPs & Strategic Plans

The Committee was briefed first by the Content Adviser on the Department of Military Veterans’ (DMV) Strategic Plan 2020-2025, its Annual Performance Plans (APP) 2020/21 and its budgetary allocation for Financial Year (FY) 2020//21. The second briefing was by the Researcher on the Department of Defence’s (DOD) Strategic Plan 2020 – 2025, its APP 2020/21 and its budgetary allocation for the FY 2020//21. The purpose of these presentations was to prepare the Committee to conduct effective oversight when the Departments would present their strategy and plans the following week.

The Committee heard that the general concerns relating to the DMV were as follows:

The fact that as of the 1st of April 2020, the DMV was now a Department operating independently of the DOD and receiving its funding from the National Treasury under vote 26. The Committee also expressed a desire for the interim 2019/20 report to be brought to their attention even before its scheduled tabling in Parliament in September so that they could address any audit issues.

Key oversight questions relating to the risks identified by the Department included what assistance was being given to assist veterans in COVID-19 and the internal measures to protect their members. Additionally, how far the process of amending the Military Veterans Act was and whether they are considering including Social Relief of Distress benefits. Further, whether there was the link between the organisational structure, One District model and skills development structures and whether there was progress on the skills audit and the creation of mitigation strategies for their risks. Ineffective and inefficient stakeholder management strategy was a concern and linked to this, clarification on the role of the South African Military Veterans Association (SANMVA) and the duplication of services by the South African Military Health Services (SAMHS). The large number of vacancies, particularly in the top echelon of the Department was of particular concern as well as the high turnover rate of jobs creating these vacancies. It was suggested that this may be linked to the concern of an inappropriate organisational culture and the proposed diversity management programme.

Underspending was also a big concern, for example, only 64.3% of the budget for Programme 3 was used in FY 2018/19.This was especially worrying as the Department does not have a national footprint and is not present in every province. The effectiveness of the internal audit function was called into question and the absence of the mention of the ZEAL Health court case. Members noted that the National Database needed to be finalised and veterans needed to update their details. Another major concern was the perpetual underperformance in respect of providing housing especially as most veterans are over the age of 60 and part of the more marginalised members of society. Finally, the need for provincial offices to be established was crucial along with the subsidised transportation cost as veterans would be greatly benefited by them.

Key oversight areas in respect of the DODs strategic plan and budget were mainly the R200 million increases from the previous year for property payments, the R109 million increases for contractors and clarity was sought as to capital acquisition.

The Committee commented that it was important to understand how the Department would conduct oversight over acquisition and expenditure once the SDA is phased out, and that they intended to ask the Department how this would transpire. The high cost of the Ministry of Defence was also cause for particular concern. Understanding how the Department intends to contribute to the National Development Agenda and how this will impact on its budget was also an area that needed clarity.

Although some Members expressed concern about the possible futility of assessing the previous budget when the budgets would likely be adjusted in Bill later that year, the Committee generally felt that the two budgets could be compared at a later date. The Committee intends for the Department to address its priorities and in respect of the budget, particularly the outliers seen in the significant increases and decreases in their targets such as in flying, sea and training hours. Members expressed their intention to also ask for details about the number of companies at the border. The issue of personnel costs and force rejuvenation was still a big concern to the Committee as the Department is currently projecting huge over-expenditure. Finally, the Committee said that they would ask how the Department intended to effect savings by selling redundant assets in the current economic climate in light of COVID-19.

Meeting report

Opening Remarks by the Chairperson

The Chairperson commented on the extraordinary nature of this meeting on Worker’s Day. He informed the Committee that the meeting may be streamed live during its course. The two items on the agenda were, firstly, a presentation by the Content Advisor on the Department of Military Veterans’ (DMV) Strategic Plan 2020 – 2025, its Annual Performance Plan (APP) 2020/21 and its budgetary allocation for the financial year (FY) 2020//2. Secondly, a briefing by the Researcher on the Department of Defence’s (DOD) Strategic Plan 2020 – 2025, its APP 2020/21 and its budgetary allocation for the FY 2020//21.

The Chairperson disclosed that the Department advised that they did not think it wise to present the Interim Report for 2019/2020 in public before tabling it to Parliament in September as it may be subject to change. The Chairperson said that he understood this but still urged the Department to brief the Committee even on the interim 2019/2020 year so that they could assess any audit queries. He said that the Department would not be reporting on this item right now but that it would return to the Committee’s agenda. During this meeting Mr Peter Daniels, Parliament’s Content Advisor would provide a briefing to prepare the Committee for when they met with the Department.

Apologies were received from Mr B Holomisa (ANC) for being late due to technical issues. He said that he would join the meeting shortly.

Briefing on the Department of Military Veterans’ (DMV) Strategic Plan 2020-2025

Mr Peter Daniels, the Committee Content Adviser, spoke to selected issues on the DMV in order to assist the Committee in their oversight function over the Department for the next five years.

The Committee was informed that the APP and Strategic Plans of the DOD, DMV, Castle Control Board and Armscor were submitted to Parliament timeously.

COVIC-19 Pandemic and the DMV

Mr Daniels said there is a likelihood that the annual budgets may be adjusted in an Adjustment Bill later in the year in order to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. The Department’s entities may be asked what measures and plans they have in place in case their budgets are adjusted particularly downwards. The Content Advisor reported that there were plans in place for combatting the spread of the disease and to still achieve their mandates. Many Military Veterans form part of the more marginalised members of society, therefore the impact on veterans is more severe. The United States implemented a procedure of tracking the cases of veterans’ infection rates through call centres, online information and the Senate passed a Corona Relief Bill of around R60 million specifically to assist veterans. In South Africa, the National Treasury will likely prioritised departments who are combatting COVID-19 on the frontlines, therefore there might be a request for other departments to revise their budgets. Since veterans and their dependents rely on benefits, and there has been an increase over the last year in applications for Social Relief of Distress, there may be a strong argument for keeping the budget to assist Military Veterans in distress. The question is, what kinds of claims the Department will assist veterans with during this period and secondly, what kind of internal mechanisms they are implementing to support and protect their own staff.

DMV Strategic plan 2020-2020

Part A: DMV Mandate

This section refers to the Department’s mandate and the sections of the benefits found in Section 5 of the Military Veterans Act.

The Constitutional mandates found in various sections: Section 7—the introductory paragraph to the Bill of Rights; Section 10—human dignity; Section 25—property; Section 26—housing, Section 27—healthcare, food water and social security, Section 32—access to information; Section 33—just administrative action; Section 195—public administration and good governance, Section 217—relating to procurement.

Reference was made to the Department’s legislative mandates and finally the Military Veterans Act 18 of 2001, related acts and the Military Veterans Benefits Regulations and institutional policies.

Mr Daniels suggested that the Committee ask about when Parliament can expect the Amendment Bill to be presented to Parliament as amendments have been in process for at least the last four years. Additionally, in the past, some policies have been approved and some have not been approved. More so, some have been implemented without being approved; including that the education benefit was distributed before policy was approved. He suggested that they may also want to ask which policies are approved and which are being revised. Subsidised public transport has not been provided yet. This is an issue as the majority of Military Veterans are not generally well-to do and will empower them to access provincial offices or the headquarters in Pretoria. The Department failed to mention the issue of ZEAL Health in their report. ZEAL Health has instituted a claim of R198 million against the Department and the Committee should follow up on this.

Part B DMV: Strategic Focus

This section was divided into three, with the third section being the most relevant for the Committee’s purposes. First, the Department’s vision and mission, secondly, organisational values and thirdly, their situational analysis. The latter of these was split into Internal and external environment analysis in order to identify internal challenges and to leverage opportunities which will help them achieve their mandate.

Internal

The Independent vote of the Department

The issue of the Independent vote of the Department with effect from the 1st of April, as they are no-longer a subprogramme of the Department of Defence (DOD.) They are now operating on vote 26 and funding from National Treasury is now transferred directly into this vote.

Demographic nature and spread of Military Veterans

8.3% of veterans still need to update their data relating to place of residence, hence the category of unknown in the data.

National Database

It is incumbent on the Committee to follow up on this as discussion has been had in the Joint Committee and the Department is key to the delivery of services, benefits and for planning purposes.

Gender and race distribution are also a concern. Mr Daniels suggested that the Department account for the age distribution of veterans as the majority of Military Veterans are over the age of 60 and should be prioritised for health and housing benefits.

Military Skills Development System Members

The Committee was advised to enquire as to how they are being accommodated in the database, because they should perhaps be moved to the reserve force.

There should also be follow up on the 8.3%of veterans who need to update their information.

Statutory forces account for around 76% and former non-statutory forces account for around 24%. Given its history, members of the statutory forces may have received benefits already whilst in service or when they retired, whereas the non-statutory forces have not, and the imbalance needs to be addressed urgently.

External

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund predictions regarding economic growth predict that a slowdown will impact the National Treasury’s ability to fund different department as seen by austerity measures already implemented, including the Salary Bill.

Military Veterans Task Team Report

This report provides a guiding blueprint for cost effective service delivery. As the Committee has not seen it, they may want to ask the Department to present the report so that the Committee can provide its feedback in addressing challenges in achieving their targets. There is also a struggle in integrating veterans into their communities, hence the One-District Approach emphasises a strategic public-private partnership to advance this goal. The Committee may also want to ask how the One District Approach relates to intergovernmental relations, especially as in the past, the Department struggled to provide housing.

Cybersecurity

A question was asked: ‘Has the SITA assisted them with their cyber security challenges’?

Good governance

In line with Chapter 10 good governance initiatives,’ how is the Department complying philosophy, principles and practice with the King Four Report’.

Anticorruption

Mr Daniels said that the question was ‘Are the initiatives operational to ensure that the Department is not hampered by this’?

Stakeholder analysis and role-verification

With regard to South African Military Veterans Association (SANMVA), there has to be clarity as to the role that SANMVA plays in assisting the Department, especially in verifying the status of Military Veterans. They may also ask the Department to account for whether all the positions on the Appeals and Advisory Boards are full and when terms come to an end, as well as well as to provide a list of the demographics of those serving on them.

The duplication of services by the South African Military Health Services (SAMHS) is also a risk. The Committee may ask what the status is on resolving duplication. A concern related to underperformance and underspending of the Department is the number of vacancies specifically in the top echelon of the Department. The Accounting Officer position of the Director-General has been vacant since August 1st 2015, and Deputy Director-General of Socio-Economic Support has been vacant since January 27, Deputy Director-General of Corporate Support from the 1st of September 2019. These vacancies impact on the sort of leadership and guidance that the Department can have. Although the Department briefed the Committee on the consultants they relied on in their briefing on the skills audit, they have not heard what progress there has been, and it was not discussed in the report.

Part C: Measuring DMV Performance (Strategic Plan over the next 5 years)

Page 9 of the analysis deals with this area of planned performance over the five-year period

Institutional Performance Information

  1. Contributions: Executive Authority’s Priorities lists six priorities.

The National Development Plan and how the Department sees itself contributing to this is the key area of concern for the Committee.

  1. Key risks and Mitigations (Table 8 on p 34 of the Strategic Plan) page 10 of the analysis is important for the Department to have an inward-looking approach at problem solving. Accordingly they identified six risks:

 

  1. Inadequate integrated internal-external business system;

  2. Instability in strategic leadership. This relates to the lack of leadership already mentioned;

  3. Inadequate legislation and regulation and policies. To this they want to amend the Military Veterans Act, align regulations to the act and introduce policies;

  4. Inappropriate organisational culture. They intend to combat this through organisational change management processes;

  5. Diversity Management Plan; and

  6. Ineffective and inefficient stakeholder management strategy. The goal here is to develop and implement a functioning stakeholder strategy.

Mr Daniels said that a target that the Department had in previous years, which is not in the current Strategy plan was a high impact marketing and communication strategy. As a lot of money was allocated to this in the past the Committee may want to enquire as to what went wrong.

In respect to the Diversity Management Plan as the means to solve the inappropriate organisational culture, the Committee may want to ask what their strategy is to ensure that the organisation has a welcoming organisational culture.

In the 2019 APP, a compromised database integrity and security risk was identified. It is not mentioned in the current report and the Committee should enquire whether it is now secure from outside attacks.

Mr Daniels said that social relief of distress is not mentioned this time, hopefully it will be part of the Amendment Act, although it is primarily a function of the Department of Social Development and that only certain functions of social relief will be delegated to the DMV.

In the new organisational structure, the Committee may want to ask the Department how the One District Approach and the Service Delivery Model all fit together.

Part D: Technical Indicator Descriptions (AGSA)

This issue was covered by a briefing sent by the Auditor-General and the recommendations made to the Department on technical aspects.

Briefing on the Department of Military Veteran’s Annual Performance Plans (APP) 2020/21 and its budgetary allocation for Financial Year (FY) 2020//21

Mr Daniels said that R683 million was the Department’s allocation for 2020 and it moves to R711million for 2021 and R735 million for 2022/23.

Performance targets

Mr Daniels said that it may be useful to pay particular attention to the Department’s spending on Programme 2 and 3 in particular as the majority of the budget is spent on these programmes. Furthermore, given the Department’s habit of underspending, the Committee should follow up on them throughout the year. In nominal terms, it is worrying that the budgets of programme one and three have decreased.

Programme 1: Administration

The Department lists an unqualified audit opinion and they may want to ask why they are satisfied with an unqualified audit and why they do not have a clean audit. ‘Additionally, why not aim to increase the payment of legitimate invoices paid out’? The Word document references nominal increases and decreases in the budget which needs to be addressed.

Programme 2: Socio-economic support

This programme receives 80% of the budget. From 2016 -2019 the target was 1000 houses to be built for veterans and the Department has underperformed significantly. They have accordingly dropped the target to 710 for the next three years. This is a critical programme, particularly for older veterans. Pension should be managed as there has been a lack of sustainable pension access. Subsidised public transport access began being developed and their target is currently to provide 600 000 veterans with it. The Committee ought to follow up with this as this might be a high target for the first year. The bursary target is a challenge as in the past the Department would move underutilised funds from other programmes to the bursary allocation. This is an issue as it means that the other benefits are not being equally distributed. Healthcare access is critical especially as the majority of veterans are over 60 and may not all live close to military hospitals.

Programme 3: Empowerment and Stakeholders

No target given for provincial offices. The approval claims being paid within 30 days in heartening. The main concern here relates to skills development measures and training. The rationale for skills development should be to make the veterans less reliant on and eventually independent from the Department and as one does not get the impression that these skills development measures are implemented with tin order for veterans to acquire gainful employment. The Committee may consider following up with the Department.

Main cost drivers

Mr Daniels reported that housing, education, skills training and health care access goals were the main cost drivers.

Implementing initiatives to improve delivery.

In programme 1, R68, 9 billion has been implemented for strategic planning, policy development and monitoring and evaluation programmes, and yet there are problems with finalising and revising policies.

Human Resources

Mr Daniels said that the Committee needs an account to be made for the filling of vacancies. Around 38% of the vacancies, which are 10 of the 26 vacancies, are at the top end of the Department; accordingly the Committee may want to ask what progress has been made on the filling of these vacancies.

General issues

The questions here are: ‘What assistance is being given to assist veterans in COVID-19’? ‘what are the internal measures to protect their members’?, Amendments to the Military Veterans Act and whether they are considering including social relief of distress benefit. Other question include

What is the link between the organisational structure’, One District model and skills development structures and whether there are recommendations on the skills audit.


Progress with mitigation strategies.

Ineffective and inefficient stakeholder management strategy was noted here.

Mr Daniels said that there was a minimal overall increase in the budget—only 64.3% of the budget for Programme 3—Empowerment and Stakeholders— was used in FY 2018/19. This has to be followed up as the Department does not have a national footprint and is not present in every province.

Effectiveness of the Internal Audit function

The ZEAL Health case was mentioned. The National Database needs to be finalised and veterans need to be updated. Mr Daniels noted the perpetual underperformance in respect of providing housing and the need for provincial offices to be established.

The Chairperson asked for questions of clarity from the Committee and thanked Mr Daniels for a comprehensive presentation.

Dr B Holomisa (UDM) asked if the figures provided were realistic given that they may still be expected to release funds back to the National Treasury. It might be realistic if the Department’s funds are ring-fenced during this time, but he does not have that impression. He also asked to be excused to fulfil his function in the Eastern Cape to do with delivering PPE to hospitals.

The Chairperson acknowledged this and released Dr Holomisa to leave after Mr Daniels’ response.

Mr Daniels said that departments not at the front line may be asked to decrease their budget. It may be incumbent on the Committee to assist in doing this, should this be the case, however, there is the argument to be made that many veterans are marginalised and senior citizens, therefore they are vulnerable.

Mr A Gxoyiya (ANC, Northern Cape) asked why there are so many vacancies at senior level. He also asked what reasons the Department has offered for underperforming in providing shelter to veterans despite having set targets for themselves and being given funding.

Mr J Maake (ANC) asked for clarity in respect of the regulations that were not aligned with the Act. He asked whether this means that the regulations were not aligned and asked for an example of this. He asked if this was because the Department started acting before the Act was passed. He also asked what is meant by diversity management, and whether this means within the department itself. He also asked how social relief of distress works and how that relates to the Department of Social Development, and the transport subsidy. He acknowledged that these questions may be best dealt with by the department.

The Chairperson asked for further questions and allowed Mr Daniels to deal with the questions he was most comfortable with and leave the rest to the Department.

Mr Daniels suggested that there was a high turnover rate within the Department, this challenge may be linked to the challenges of accommodating diverse people within the Department and may relate to their plans for diversity management. Strategic public partnerships and misalignment regarding the organisational structure, mandate and service provision may relate to the issue of underperformance.

Alignment between the Act and the regulations relates to the means tests for the eleven benefits in the Department and if they try to accommodate widows and orphans for housing. In order to do this, the Act needs to be amended first, and then the regulations will need to be amended to address the gaps.

The Chairperson thanked the Committee for their questions but noted that only the Department can clarify these questions satisfactorily. The structure of the regulations needs to be aligned with the regulations because the structure came before the Act. There were initially 409 posts when Treasury asked them to account for and reduce this number; it was reduced to 169 posts. Currently, only 144 are filled permanently. The rest includes 63 contract staff and 28 interns; however, they have 261 posts. This indicates that there is a problem in the structure itself and this may speak to the problem of diversity management.

Briefing on the Department of Defence’s Annual Performance Plans 2020/21 and its budgetary allocation for Financial Year 2020//21

Dr Wilhelm Janse van Rensburg, Committee Researcher, spoke to the key issues in the DOD Budget and APP analysis for 2020/2021 like the Impact of COVID-19.

Dr van Rensburg said that whilst awaiting an adjusted budget, these are the considerations regarding the current one:

DOD Spending trends

The economic downturn will impact the public wage bill. This was a pre-COVID-19 issue, and will likely continue.

South African National Defence Force (SANDF) training

Planned exercises are unlikely to take place and the Committee might need to be flexible in their oversight over this.

Secondary tasks

Current deployments will impact secondary tasks such as maritime patrols, cybersecurity and multinational exercises with other countries as these will likely fall by the wayside because of the current COVID-19 deployment requirements.

Border safeguarding

Will there be any additional requirements’? In the previous meeting, it was stated that there are no additional companies deployed at the borders currently, but there are plans to assist the border deployments with technology and so forth. In the past, the Committee has asked if the companies at the border may be increased from 15 to 22, perhaps they can raise this again particularly in light of the COVID 19 needs.

Discipline

The SANDF needs to deal rapidly with ill-discipline in current domestic deployments as this is crucial for Civil Military Relations.

Policy Priorities

Ministerial focus areas:

  • 2015DR—Arresting the decline;

  • Generating revenue to supplement fiscal needs;

  • Maintaining force levels—continued rejuvenation and the role of the reserves;

  • Organisational optimisation—if it has been a priority for the past seven years. ‘Why has there been no improvement’?

  • Maintain prime mission equipment; and

  • Increased expectation of the SANDF to contribute in the National Agenda; ‘in what way will the SANDF be contributing’.

Budget overview

There are currently eight sub-programmes. The only one which increased was Defence Intelligence, which has the smallest budget allocation.

Compensation of employees

Dr van Rensburg said that there has been an increase from R29.194 billion to R31.178 billion in 2020/202.

The National Treasury needs them to stay within the cost bracket but the Department continues to fail to do so.

Other cost drivers include economic classifications, which provide another way to look at the budget, these are key oversight areas.

Key oversight areas

  • Property payments: A R200 million increase from the previous year.

  • Contractors: increase by 109 million

  • Capital acquisition: limited allocation for this—R1.8 million.

Normally, this is transferred to the Special Defence Account (SDA) for acquisition of military hardware and equipment, but there is a significant decrease in transfers to the SDA over the years. The allocation decreases from R5.3 billion to R1.4 billion, which brings into question the Department’s ability to renew and maintain their equipment and keep in step with a modern defence force.

  • Departmental agencies & accounts (SDA): Significant decrease in transfers over the MTEF.

  • High cost of the Ministry of Defence:

  • Members may wish to explore the fact that the Department had the highest Ministerial cost (according to a 2019 study by the Fiscal Cliff Study Group)

MTEF notes from National Treasury

Medium-term aspects:

  • Create sustainability/ savings

R209.8 million saved by conducting its own internal maintenance through Defence Works Formation. R3 billion was raised through the sale and leasing of redundant assets.

  • R1.9 billion raised through reimbursements from the UN. There are questions about whether these things can occur in the current economy and if the UN continues to be under pressure. Border safeguarding—R225 million for technology to assist in border safeguarding, so although there is no increase in the units at the border, they increased funds for technology, Members may want to ask why.

  • Peacekeeping—R3.5 billion has been allocated to this.

  • Internal operations—R48 million has been allocated to this, but this is likely to change due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Key oversight areas per programme

Programme 1: Administration

A decrease in allocation to the Ministry by 8.1% and Acquisition Services. Although there is a decrease, it is still a significant portion.

Advertising cost increase by R13.9 million in the past 2 years, Members may want to ask why.

Property payments increased by R207 million over the past 2 years, Members may want to ask why there was a need for an additional R207 million.

Performance indicators readjusted to allow or easier oversight—this is a positive development which the Department can be congratulated for. In the past there were 80 performance indicators and there have now been reduced to eight, which is more manageable for the Committee to conduct oversight of.

Follow up with the Joint Standing Committee of Intelligence is needed relating to Battle Fitness of the SANDF in meeting that is not public.

Programme 3: Landward defence

The bulk of SANDF’s HR expenses are located in Landward Defence.

The strategic direction subprogramme increased by R63 million and the artillery capability sub-programme increased by R154 million. The Committee may ask why the increase is necessary and what the plans are for its use, particularly in the artillery subprogramme as after this year the allocation decreases again and there may be a big project they are focussing on.

Food and food supplies increased from R650 million to 750 million. Travel and subsistence have increased from R340 million to R440 million. The Members may want to ask the Department to explain why there has been R90 million and R100 million rand increases respectively for the SA Army as some targets are classified. It may be prudent for the Committee to follow up with the Joint Standing Committee of Intelligence or to hold a closed meeting with the Department.

Programme 4: Air Defence

  • Compared with the budget for the previous year, adjusted for inflation, there are significant shifts;

  • Operational direction subprogramme budget is reduced by 24%; and

  • Transport and maritime capability with 11% reduction, this may be an issue since on a field visit; they noted South Africa’s limited air capability for patrolling maritime waters.

Programme 5: Fuel, Oil and Gas)

This deceases from R97 million to R45 million. The Committee may want to question how the Navy will be able to fulfil their sea hours after such a major reduction for fuel.

Maritime direction sub programme increased by R95 million— since this is the administrative part, the question is why an additional R95 million is needed

Sea hours target remains at 10 000 (although no more than 8131 have been achieved annually since 2016. It is unclear why they set this target for themselves as it is likely to be achieved.

Programme 6: Military health services

  • There will likely be an alteration to this budget given the role of these services in the fight against COVID-19. Agency and support from the previous budget decreased fromR428 million to R260 million. This decrease raises questions about the capability of the military health services as in the past there has been a great need to outsource medical care given the state of some of the hospitals. ‘How will this be accommodated for given the reduction’?

  • Food supplies doubled in its allocation and could raise questions. Allocations for the military health sub-programme decreased by R46 million. It is unclear whether this relates to the Defence Works Formation’s capacity to assist and whether it will impact on military heath upgrading budgets.

  • Targets for this programme that are now classified but which were previously not classified. It is unclear why these targets are now classified.

  • Percentage of compliance with Joint Force Employment

  • Percentage combat ready capabilities

  • Percentage compliance with availability of medical stock

Programme 7: Defence Intelligence

They received an additional R167 million for their two subprogramme. Despite the increased budget, they set lower targets than previously achieved. The number of vetting decisions and defence intelligence products are lower than what they have achieved in previous years. The question is why they would set their targets lower than they have achieved in previous years.

Programme 8: General support

Property payments increased from R252 million to R341 million. This raises the question of why there has been such an increase, for which properties and why now.

Defence Works Formation falls under this sub-programme and the Committee may want to ask for more details about the state of the Defence Works formation and whether it will be able to achieve its target.

Targets seem low with the percentage of criminal cases investigated in-year being only 25 % and criminal cases investigated (backlog) being 40%. This indicates they will keep falling behind

Going Forward

Key broad areas of areas for oversight:

  • COVID-19 impact

  • Personnel aspects—will be exacerbated by COVID 19. There is an urgent need for a rejuvenation of the Defence Force. His was highlighted by the Committee last year. It is urgent for two reasons, firstly, cost savings as a younger force is cheaper and secondly, the operational capacity of the Department is impacted if forces are not rejuvenated.

  • DOD savings and fundraising is very ambitious but requires oversight by Parliament so it is done in a responsible and achievable manner.

  • Sharp-end ongoing concerns (SA Air Force and SA Navy) pertaining to maintenance of equipment will remain under strain in the next year.

  • Acquisition (the decreased allocations to the SDA will impact the SANDF’s ability to remain a modern and effective. Significant oversight is needed to ensure that we remain a modern and well-equipped force.

Dr van Rensberg concluded by saying he trusts it will assist in the engagement with the Department next week.

The Chairperson Invited the Committee to make comments.

Discussion

Mr S Marais (DA) thanked Dr van Rensburg for an excellent presentation as it will be a helpful source document for the Committee. The impact of COVID-19 expenses on the SANDF budget will be so significant that working with the current budget is a kind of fruitless exercise. Since from the 1st of April, the DMV was no-longer part of the DOD budget, he asked whether the DMV budget is still included in the DOD budget, or whether it will it be an extra budget. Since the SDA is being phased out, he asked how that money will be reflected and where they can keep track of it in the reports going forward. In respect to regional peacekeeping, there is a big gap between the income and the cost, largely, owing to the serviceability of their equipment. He asked how they can assist so that they can gain a higher return from the United Nations (UN). Two C130s have been lost in the last couple of months, and he asked what can be done about that. The Department of Public Works asked the DOD to provide more support during this time, but he wonders whether this is going to be done under the current budget.

The Chairperson said that most of the questions raised by Mr Marais can best be given justice to by the Department, but Dr van Rensburg may comment.

Mr Denis Ryder (DA, Gauteng) said that they had a presentation from the Namibian air force to maintain their existing fleet. That has not been apportioned for in the current budget. He asked if there is a budget for facilitating the maintenance before the assets fall away. Although he has many more questions, he will leave them for the Department.

The Chairperson asked Dr van Rensburg to respond as far as possible and leave the rest for the Department.

Dr van Rensburg said that in respect of the SDA and how it will be reflected, this is an excellent question which will relate to oversight going forward. It might be put on their acquisitions or included in a subprogramme. It is a question requiring a serious level of oversight.

With regard to the C130s—one has been lost in the DRC and another got damaged in the Waterkloof air force space. This leaves them with limited capacity which has implications for determining the air force’s strategic airlift capabilities, especially for missions abroad. It’s a long-term planning question.

These questions are best posed to the Department and they could build on the analysis document. These are long-term maintenance and capability questions. The Minister said she will prioritise capability concerns; the question is how the Minister will do this with the budgetary constraints.

Mr Maake said that it will be interesting to hear from the Department what their contribution to the National Development Agenda is and how this will impact the budget. ‘Does this mean dealing with COVID-19’; it will be interesting to know what the contribution is and how they will do it. He said that he would also like to understand what the very high ministerial cost is comprised of as broken down for each department.

Mr Marais asked if the budget provided is really limited to the DOD and not inclusive of the DMV.

The Chairperson confirmed that this year the DMV has its own separate budget. He then asked the Secretary to combine the questions of the Committee to include them so that when the Department presents, they can address the questions directly.

Mr T Mmutle (ANC) asked for clarity on the plans for the R27million additional budget expenditure.

The Chairperson said that they would ask them to clarify their discussion with the Department of Public Works and Home Affairs if they are involved. Since he has looked at the Department’s presentation, he will ask them to talk to their Departmental priorities and with regard to the budget, particularly the outliers—significant increases or decreases. He will also ask them to account for significant increases and decreases in their targets such as in flying, sea and training hours. They would also ask for details about the number of companies at the border. The issue of personnel cost is still a big concern to the Committee as the Department is currently projecting huge over-expenditure. Additionally, they will ask how they see themselves addressing acquisition as the SDA is being phased out. Finally, they will ask how they intend to effect savings by selling redundant assets in the current economic climate. The meetings with them will not be long. He asked the Committee if they are happy with this approach. The Committee was in agreement pertaining to their meetings on Tuesday and Thursday as they are dealing with the Castle and Armscor on Wednesday.

The meeting was adjourned.

 

 

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