Keith Campbell, a correspondent for the South African website Engineering News, writes that Defence and Military Veterans Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula reported to Parliament in her budget speech that her department was examining a 20-year Defence Development Programme that would be split up into four Medium-Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) periods, each of five years. The first of these was starting in this financial year (2014/15) and would run to the 2018/19 financial year.
During this first MTSF, the Department of Defence (DoD) will integrate its Strategic Intent with the government’s planning cycle and ensure that it supports the National Development Plan, the New Growth Path and the Industrial Policy Action Plan (Ipap), as well as incorporating the commitments and missions for the DoD and the SANDF emanating from the new National Security Strategy. “The introduction of this long-term planning brings greater coherence and continuity to our planning system and [contributes] towards the achievement of the vision and goals of the country,” she affirmed.
Campbell writes that the Minister made repeated references to the Defence Review, which has now been tabled for consideration by Parliament. “We do hope,” she stated, “that, given its centrality to our planning, Parliament will treat the finalisation of the review as a matter of critical urgency. “The question crucially posed by the review is: what is it that we want the Defence Force to do at home, in the region and [in] the rest of the continent?” she queried. “Once that question is answered, adequate resources must be allocated to enable the DoD to execute its mandate with the requisite effectiveness and efficiency.”
As we – on this website have stressed so many times – Mapisa-Nqakula confirmed and agrees that the SANDF was in decline. It suffered from having main operating systems it could afford to operate, obsolescent technologies and imbalances between its capabilities. The review proposed a 25-year plan, divided into five-year “milestones” to turn the SANDF around and transform it into a force capable, if required, of waging a limited war (Lately most members would not be able to run a mile or fight themselves out of a paper bag – Ed.)
The first of these milestones is intended to halt the current decline. To achieve this, the DoD will devote its attention to six strategic areas during the current MTSF period. One of these areas involves the development of the Defence Industry Strategy, the Technology Agenda, innovation plans and the incorporation of the defence industry into Ipap. Another requires the overhaul of the defence capability strategy and of direct defence acquisition to bring them in line with the review’s remaining milestones.
The other four strategic areas are concerned with funding, personnel, renewing the defence organisation and providing for strategic leadership (including succession planning) for the next 20 years. “It is important that the Defence Review should not be premised solely on the need for more money for the SANDF,” she warned. “While this is important, the DoD has a responsibility in preparing its ground for implementation to ensure that it improves its processes to work smarter, eliminate wastage, improve accountability and redeploy current resources.”
