The National Treasury says it has noted with concern remarks made by Navy Head Admiral Monde Lobese on the budget of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).
During a Parliamentary meeting of the Joint Standing Committee on Defence on Friday, Lobese made remarks on the underfunding of the SANDF – asserting that this is causing challenges and pointing to National Treasury as a source of the underfunding.
In a statement, Treasury explained that it was responsible for the “planning process that results in a Cabinet decision reflecting trade-offs between various policy priorities”.
“Final approval is by Parliament, and the National Treasury is then entrusted to ensure the implementation of Parliament’s decisions. It is therefore incorrect to suggest that the National Treasury is responsible for any budget challenges experienced by the SANDF.
“Furthermore, the 2025/26 proposed allocation of R57.2 billion in the Appropriation Bill is informed by government’s broader fiscal strategy, which aims to stabilise public finances, reduce debt-service costs, and create space to invest in critical infrastructure and frontline services in support of higher growth,” the statement read.
Moreover, the department highlighted that government was working within challenging financial conditions.
“Within this constrained fiscal environment, the Department of Defence has been allocated an additional R4.3 billion over the 2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework to support priority needs – most notably, the orderly and safe withdrawal of troops and mission equipment from the Democratic Republic of Congo, alongside other essential operational requirements.
“In addition, the 2025 MTEF fiscal framework contains R5.5 billion for early retirement in 2025/26 and 2026/27, most of which will be used by the SANDF to realign their personnel structure with their compensation budget, which is currently unsustainable.
“Internal resource allocation in the Department of Defence is the responsibility of the Accounting Officer and if a particular division believes they are underfunded, it is a matter that should be addressed internally,” the department noted. – SAnews.gov.za
