30 June 2004: No 39/04

KEY POINTS FROM THE DEFENCE MINISTER’S BUDGET VOTE SPEECH

The Minister of Defence, Mr Mosiuoa Lekota, has on the occasion of the Defence Budget Vote in Parliament, Cape Town, on 08 June 2004, delivered his speech which covered a wide range of Defence issues facing Defence today as well as those of transparency in Defence management, good governance and account-ability.

Ten years ago we resolved that our posture would be a defensive one and we started the transformation of the Defence function in April 1994. Ten years down the line the White Paper on Defence and the Defence review will now be reviewed. To date these two fundamental documents have guided the transformation of the Defence function. The foundation on which they were based remains sound, but there are certain aspects that need to be revisited and adjusted.

Peace Support Missions

The SANDF has been the pivotal instrument of stability in Africa south of the Sahara. The Peacekeeping Mission to Burundi (AMIB) has become a United Nations mission ONUB) whose mandate is “to support Burundi’s efforts to re-establish sustainable peace”. This was due to the pioneering role of the SANDF, including the later collaboration with Mozambique and Ethiopia, which created the conditions for the United Nations to take over.

Threats to our nation

The world has changed since 1994, and whilst we still cannot identify any serious threats to our territorial sovereignty, we still face the demons of poverty and hunger. These remain the biggest threats to our security and stability as a nation. The political imperatives that guided us in 1994 have changed, and our structures, our training and our modus operandi must be adjusted and fine-tuned so that we can align ourselves with our role on the African continent.

Important role in African Missions

The creation of the African Union and its substructures places a heavy burden of responsibility on the security organs of our country, not least on the DOD, which is playing an important role in the design and structure of the Africa Standby force.

From August this year, South Africa will be chairing the SADC Organ on Peace and Security. We hope to bring together the collective defence inputs of our region to establish sound structures from which we can operate. Our collective experiences must be pooled to stabilise our region further and to protect it from internal conflict and the ensuing disarray. We are increasingly involved in the security structures of the region.

In the aftermath of the Rwanda genocide and the lessons of hindsight humankind must rise to the responsibilities of our time.