В ЮАР военные не получили финансирование для операции по борьбе с бандитизмом

As of end July there was no deposit into the relevant Department of Defence (DoD) bank account to pay for the 12-month deployment of military personnel to support police in curbing gangsterism and illegal mining across five South African provinces. This came to light when DoD Acting Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Edem Abotsi addressed Parliament’s Standing Committee on Appropriations (SCOA) last week on DoD Expenditure in the fourth quarter of the 2025/26 financial year. The deployment of 2 200 uniformed SA National Defence Force (SANDF) personnel, mostly SA Army along with logistics and military health service elements as well as 13 SA Air Force (SAAF) aircraft, to support the SA Police Service (SAPS) was made public by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his mid-February State of the Nation Address (SONA). Ahead of boots hitting the ground in the Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, North West and Western Cape provinces in April, March saw preparation including joint mission readiness training (JMRT) and positioning of the myriad components of military deployment ranging from fuel, medical and rations through to accommodation and communication to name a few. According to the Abotsi presentation to SCOA chair Mmusi Maimane’s committee, as of 31 July the DoD had not received the R823 million Ramaphosa said was allocated for the military deployment as per the standing SANDF tasking Operation Prosper to assist other government departments/entities with specified safety and security operations of national importance. The presentation reads further: “Two formal letters were submitted to the National Treasury on 1 April and 28 May 2026 requesting the provision of the required funding and highlighting the associated risks should the funding not be approved. In addition, numerous follow-up engagements were undertaken through telephone calls and email correspondence with the National Treasury”. In mid-May, as per Obotsi’s presentation, the National Treasury requested additional information “relating to detailed costing and applicable allowances” which was done with the DoD then informed NT was awaiting Appropriation Act approval – “assented to on 14 July”. “As of the date of this presentation [5 August] the funding of R823 million for Operation Prosper has not been received from the National Treasury,” the SCOA was informed. In April, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Parliamentarian Noluvuyo Tafeni was informed deployment funding was done in terms Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) prescripts relating to allocation of monies for emergency situations. Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) Member of Parliament (MP) Russel Cebekhulu wanted Defence and Military Veterans Minister Angie Motshekga to detail the deployment costs. A written reply had it “general commodities” will account for R411 million of the total, with rations – at R297 110 000 – the bulk. At a stated per person per day cost of R370 this will see the nutritional needs of 2 200 soldiers, SA Army support personnel as well as SAAF air and ground crews provided for 365 days. Fuel, listed as R45 5000 000 in the written ministerial response [probably a typo which should be R45.5 million] is another major “general commodities” expense. Other listed items in this category are vehicle maintenance and repair (R25 650 000) and “consumables”, identified only as “cleaning materials, toilet paper, etc.” at R42 800 000. At just under 41% of the total R823 153 96 deployment cost, allowances for activated uniformed personnel accounts for R344 743 960 of the year-long operation’s budget. This covers the standard R22.22 daily SANDF danger allowance (total: R17 million), R80.75 per day standby allowance (total: R64 million) and R326.35 daily deprivation allowance (total: R262 million) in addition to regular monthly salaries. The aerial support component of the anti-crime deployment sees R67 million budgeted for 13 aircraft and approximately 300 flying hours. Eighty-six hours are allocated for two BK117 helicopters at a total cost of R12 910 800. A single Cessna Caravan is allocated 60 flight hours at a cost of R570 000 and five A109s are each allocated 60 flying hours for a total of R12 840 000. Five Oryx medium helicopters are each allocated 120 hours for a total cost of R41 100 000. In a statement following the 5 August meeting, the Standing Committee on Appropriations raised serious concern that the Department of Defence continues to receive extra deployment responsibilities before the necessary funding is made available. Maimane said it was concerning that members of the Defence Force are deployed for events such as the President’s State of the Nation Address, but the funding only follows months later. He warned that this could lead to unauthorised expenditure under the Public Finance Management Act. The committee recommended that once a deployment is confirmed, the funding should be made available on time to avoid taking money away from other operational priorities. The committee recommended that there should be clear distinction between new or expanded operational mandates, unfunded or partially funded deployments to enable the DoD to manage its budget appropriately.