SANDF Too Underfunded to Defend South Africa - Bantu Holomisa

Clement Manyathela speaks to Bantu Holomisa, the Deputy Minister of Defence and Military Veterans.

Listen below:

Deputy Defence Minister Bantu Holomisa has suggested that the military is not in a fit state to defend the country if it came under attack.

He made the comments on the Clement Manyathela Show on 702,saying the SANDF is underfunded and poorly resourced with outdated equipment.

Holomisa who served as the Deputy Chairperson of the National Defence Force Service Commission for nine years, says recommendations given by the commission years ago were not acted on:

"We submitted that report and we made recommendations to the then minister of defence...but unfortunately it looks like...most of the things were not implemented."

- Bantu Holomisa, Deputy Minister of Defence and Military Veterans

"There are various reasons, the main one has been lack of resources."

- Bantu Holomisa, Deputy Minister of Defence and Military Veterans

Holomisa says he and Minister Angie Motshekga sat down in October last year to review the state of the SANDF.

He says they identified some of the key issues and submitted reports, including a breakdown of the budget:

"Right now we have been given budget that is not adequate."

- Bantu Holomisa, Deputy Minister of Defence and Military Veterans

"Every (defence) minister I can think of, they have been complaining since time immemorial that the defence is declining. How many defence reviews have been produced and the National Treasury has just ignored? They even ignored the president in 2023, who said, the budget of defence must move from 0.57% of the GDP to 1.5% of the GDP."

- Bantu Holomisa, Deputy Minister of Defence and Military Veterans

Scroll up to listen to the full interview.