Chairperson, hon Minister, hon members, members of the Portfolio Committee on Defence, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, it is an inspiration to participate in the budget debate of our country's defence establishment today. It has been several years since I was weaned off this sector where my political life actually evolved and where I cut my teeth as an exuberant backbencher in Parliament. The challenges this budget seeks to address are themselves evidence of how far the Department of Defence has come since the pioneering work of its early post-1994 era, which laid the foundation for our contemporary defence establishment, as the Minister has already commented.
I wish to pay tribute to the many public servants, both in Parliament and the executive, who have all contributed to bringing us this far, including hon member Mr Groenewald, who I see is still very passionate about matters of defence.
Our debate today heralds the beginning of yet another five-year span to advance, build and develop our country's defence establishment to realise the resolve of South Africans, as individuals and as a nation, to live as equals, to live in peace and harmony, to be free from fear and want, and to seek a better life in an even more sophisticated way.
We are discussing this government's responsibilities buoyed up by the overwhelming fresh mandate the ruling party received from the electorate which was spurred by the attitude that together we can do more. In this context, we must, in line with the 10 priorities of the Medium-Term Strategic Framework, strengthen engagement with society by promoting public participation and engagement with civil society on defence matters and international co-operation.
To this end, it is the desire of the Minister to ratchet up the overall communication of the Department of Defence and the public to bring an end to the era in which defence and military affairs were instinctively treated with suspicion and cynicism by the public - to make defence matters the business of all citizens and the Department of Defence a centre of excellence and an employer of choice for our young citizens.
The hon member Nomsa Madikizela-Mandela could not have articulated this better during the debate on the President's Vote when she said in the Chamber:
We owe it to the masses; it is about giving our people real control over their lives. It is about ensuring that the electorate steers the body politic and not be reduced to mere passengers or spectators in the unfolding processes.
Indeed, our movement has consistently striven to defy the political elitism in which politics becomes a matter for professionals. Our people should not be reduced to mere voting fora and be treated as though they are incompetent to shape the content and direction of our democratic project.
As the Minister has already mentioned, the most important project of the Department of Defence in the next five years is the elaboration of the new defence strategy - a long-term view that must guide our defence function over the next 20 years, based on a review of the status quo. This involved exercise will do a fresh appraisal of the strategic environment and its implications for our defence. This will address, among other things, our defence posture in the context of collective defence strategies and the capabilities we therefore require.
At a more pressing level, the building and consolidation of our defence function is going to require the sustaining and escalating of improvements in and around management practices, as noted by the Auditor-General. The Minister is committed to observing the Medium-Term Strategic Framework priority of ensuring that all government departments receive unqualified audit reports by 2014.
There can be no excellence in the Department of Defence if we do not involve best management practices, because the Department of Defence is the biggest establishment of government departments. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a state within a state. It is in control of enormous resources and assets. It also manages the biggest budget and the most extensive procurement function.
The Minister is committed to sanitising all procurement activities of all kinds to ensure ethical conduct, transparency and integrity. This will go a long way in freeing up opportunities for the benefit of all citizens in keeping with official policies.
Over the past decade and a half, we have seen the development of several new policies that are aimed at positioning the Department of Defence to best deliver on its mandate. Our focus in this second decade is to ensure that there is full and effective implementation of those policies that have been seen to work and to review and refine those that have not. Our mission remains unchanged, but our strategies must always be responsive to changing circumstances. The Minister of Defence and Military Veterans pledges this commitment to embrace the priorities of the Medium-Term Strategic Framework of government over the next five years.
Our main objectives in this regard remain to enhance and maintain comprehensive defence capabilities to safeguard the people of South Africa and to promote peace, security and stability in the region and the continent as a whole. This encompasses the development of landward forces, maritime and air defence systems by having the required capabilities. A well-maintained defence capability will immensely enhance South Africa's role in promoting democracy and prosperity on the continent.
To realise this objective, we must ensure that a mandate-driven force design and force structure are realised. This is becoming more of a necessity than a luxury. It is for the realisation of this necessity that the department is developing the Defence Strategy 2010 to 2030 as a document providing a comprehensive and cogent strategic argument for this endeavour, as the Minister commented earlier.
Equally driving the need to update South Africa's defence policy is the increased obligation to contribute to stabilising parts of the African continent. Subsequently, the growing utilisation of the SA National Defence Force in peacekeeping on the continent has compelled a review of the distinction between primary and secondary functions. In short, there is a need to strike the right balance regarding peace missions to give peacekeeping its correct place in the roles and functions of the SA National Defence Force.
However, the insufficient budget of the SA National Defence Force, as the Minister has already commented, continues to be a cause for concern. In nominal terms, the budget allocation has increased from R10,9 billion in 1994 to R32 billion in 2009-10. During this period, the Defence budget was augmented with funding for peace-support operations and the rejuvenation of the prime mission equipment of the SA Air Force and the SA Navy. The peace- support operations budget allocation for the current financial year stands at R969 million. Given the current economic climate, our Defence budget has not increased substantially in real terms, thereby eroding the purchasing power of Defence operating funds.
The Defence budget allocation has decreased from 4,6% of GDP in 1994 to a projected meagre 1,2% of GDP in the current financial year. This is further demonstrated by the fact that the Defence budget allocation has declined from 7,9% of total government spending in 1994 to a projected 3,8% of the estimated total government spending in the current financial year.
The economic situation in the country and the world does not make things easy for all of us but we cannot compromise the security of our country and the continent. Our Defence capabilities can therefore not be allowed to be compromised by the budgetary constraints experienced by all of us. Together with members of the Portfolio Committee on Defence, we hope that we can come up with innovative ideas to ensure that we will keep the SA National Defence Force in a state that is commensurate with its obligations.
The skills revolution agenda remains a key driver of the Department of Defence's contribution to our country's socioeconomic development priorities. We continue to maximise the enlisting of the youth in technical careers within the Defence sector through various initiatives, such as the Military Skills Development System, a project that the Minister has already referred to, as currently implemented by the services of our National Defence Force.
An effort to profile the Military Skills Development System as a sustainable skills generator for government will be pursued through partnerships and collaboration with other organs of state, as the Minister mentioned when she tabled our budget this morning. This forms part of our primary contribution to invest in the youth and to alleviate unemployment and poverty by preparing them for decent and rewarding careers in the SANDF. Also high on our agenda is the revitalisation of the reserves, with more than 22 000 volunteers forming the reserve of which 70% is from designated groups.
The Department of Defence has highlighted the requirement for the improvement of the quality of life of military veterans. To that end, the department has played a pivotal role towards the establishment of a single veterans' association, the SA National Military Veterans' Association. Their president is on the gallery this morning.
Furthermore, the department is in the process of configuring itself into a vehicle that will drive the new responsibilities as promulgated by the Commander-in-Chief and President of the Republic. As a precursor to this, the Minister has appointed new members, as Parliament is aware, to the Advisory Committee on Military Veterans, which will undoubtedly contribute to the way forward in this immense task. This vehicle that is to be created will ensure that an effective and efficient system is in place to provide the required support to military veterans.
The task team appointed by the Minister has already started to work. What is evident is that we are responsible for a huge, politically sensitive and diverse constituency which must be diligently disaggregated in order to be efficient in addressing its needs. Secondly, both in policy and organisational interventions, we must be alive to the need to craft our solutions for these problems with a long-term view. However, we need urgently to deal with the dire needs of military veterans.
Becoming an employer of choice remains a key tenet of our vision. Thus the Department of Defence will continue to develop an adequately resourced, skills-based performing, disciplined and reliable workforce. This will be evident in the various programmes, notably among others the Department of Defence's work regiment that seeks to provide target training of identified projects to maintain and renovate the facilities of the Defence Force. This could be linked with other government departments, like the Department of Public Works, in the maintenance of buildings.
Our plans and initiatives will be supported by a robust plan for monitoring and evaluation aimed at establishing and sustaining an information bank to evaluate the department as a whole. A sharper focus will be given to the strengthening of norms and standards to improve levels of accountability, a function which is located primarily within the administration programme. Such interventions will see the further development of systems, processes and frameworks aimed at creating sustainable monitoring and evaluation that provide for sufficient accountability regarding the funding received from government.
Chairperson, hon members, there is no doubt that the next five years will see the emergence of new challenges within the defence environment, but my Minister and I are excited at the opportunity of being part of the team that has been fielded to do duty in the service of our country. I thank you. [Applause.]