Chairperson, the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Lindiwe Sisulu, made the welcome announcement during the Budget Vote debate last week that it was incumbent on all of us to work towards ensuring that we shift from an ideology of the past to a democratic ideology. That, we must all agree, is a step in the right direction. It is unfortunate that the Minister appears to have ignored her own advice and seems to be going in the wrong direction: from a democratic ideology to an ideology of the past.
Chairperson, the central question before us in deciding whether to support or oppose the Budget Vote was this: What effect will the R32billion appropriated for Defence have on the combat readiness of the defence force? The short answer to that question is this: We do not know, because the Department of Defence and Military Veterans will not tell us or, perhaps more accurately, the Department of Defence and Military Veterans will tell us, but only on condition that we do not tell you.
We were told that the Department of Defence and Military Veterans would not provide a briefing on the state of combat readiness of the defence force, because the Minister had not been briefed. Then we were told that the Department of Defence and Military Veterans will not provide a full and open briefing, because it would compromise national security. Now it emerges that last year the media were briefed on the state of combat readiness of the SAAF and the SA Navy. Parliament cannot be briefed, but the press can be briefed.
Chairperson, we do not know all the details, but we know the Defence Force is in deep trouble. We have soldiers without vehicles; we have ships without sailors; we have planes without pilots; and we have military hospitals without doctors. The result is that we have soldiers in the barracks, not in the field; we have ships alongside, not at sea; and we have aircraft in hangars, not in the air. We have an army that is overstretched, a navy that is understretched, and an air force with nothing to stretch! [Laughter.]
What does this all mean, Chair? We are expected to support a R32billion appropriation, but we are not allowed to know to what effect that money is spent, and we will not do so. The DA therefore opposes the budget on defence and military veterans, which is Vote No 19, for the 2009-10 financial year. [Time expired.]