By Odwa Mkentane
South Africa’s military readiness is under scrutiny, with serious operational challenges reported at Waterkloof Air Force Base. More than 150 vehicles are reportedly out of service, while concerns have also been raised about security at some weapons storage facilities.
The findings are contained in recent research by the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR).
Speaking to VOC, SAIRR defence expert Ricardo Teixeira says the problems facing the South African Defence Force, particularly the Air Force, go far beyond the visible deterioration at military bases. He attributes the decline to underfunding, ageing equipment, poor working conditions and declining morale among personnel, which has left many members despondent.
“A lot of the personnel that I speak to within the Defence Force now are at a point where the word ‘despondent’ comes to mind. It’s difficult going to work every day when your biggest concern is not being paid and where the conditions in your work are poor.
“It’s hard to have pride when your work is not the priority, where the equipment isn’t working and you can’t really do a job. So, people just mentally start to check out, and the cracks start to grow, and the weeds start to grow through them.
“We don’t necessarily need someone with military experience. We just need someone who understands the Defence Force, who understands the problems they are facing, understands the threats and the risks South Africa is facing, and how to implement the policy and manage the department appropriately, and ultimately has a vision and some essence of leadership,” said Teixeira.
Teixeira believes some defence capabilities now need to be rebuilt from the ground up, with government first determining what capabilities South Africa needs, how much they will cost and what their objectives should be.
“I think with the problems that the Defence Force is facing, the ageing equipment, the outdated doctrine and the state of leadership and planning within the Department of Defence, we do need to go back to square one, particularly with many of the capabilities.
“We look at the Navy; we haven’t had a submarine patrol in three years. That means we do not have any submariners who are current and qualified to do one.
“So, a lot of capabilities are at the point now where we’re not talking about saving them; we are talking about rebuilding from scratch.
“I think we are at an opportunity now where we do need to sit down and have a good, hard look in the mirror and figure out what is it we need, how much is it going to cost and what is it going to do.
“And we need to give a direction and an objective to the Defence Force so that it knows exactly what it has to do and how much it’s going to cost. Then that’s what it costs, and then we need to do it,” he said.
Photo: SANDF facebook page
