Parliament, Wednesday, 3 June 2020 – The Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans was today told that the Ministry of Defence and Military Veterans is still to be furnished with the South African National Defence Force’s (SANDF’s) report on the inquiry into the death of Mr Collins Khoza.

The committee said that members have been inundated with questions regarding the findings of the report which has not yet been presented to it. According to the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Ms Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, the report submitted to the Chief of the SANDF, General Solly Shoke, was sent back to the Board of Inquiry as the terms of reference have not fully been met. As a result of this, the ministry has not yet received the report on the inquiry as reported in the media.

The committee, during the briefing on the fourth quarterly reports for the Department of Defence (DOD), raised its concern over the implementation status of the 2015 Defence Review (DR). While highlighting the impact of budgetary constraints, the Secretary of Defence, Dr Sam Gulube, emphasised the dangers of not funding the DR and the continuous struggle of fulfilling the National Treasury’s instruction of cutting the force down to 65 000 while fulfilling its numerous missions.

“By not funding the DR, we are putting the country in danger,” he said. The committee maintains that a meeting between the National Treasury and the DOD is imminent to address the funding challenges related to especially the cost of employees.

The committee remains concerned about the targets related to the number of hours flown per year, and the number of sea hours which stand at 94 % and 64% respectively. In questioning the department’s plans to mitigate this, the committee said there is a continuous threat posed to food security around the world and the abuse of South Africa’s fishing resources is on the increase.

The committee instructed the department to submit a progress report on the investigations into the department’s irregular expenditure of which R169 million was identified as a consequence of non-compliance to Supply Chain Management (SCM) prescripts.

ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON DEFENCE AND MILITARY VETERANS, MR CYRIL XABA.

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