Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Budget Speech, responses by ACDP, FF+, DA, IFP & Al Jama-Ah

Watch: Mini-Plenary (Debate on Vote 23 & 26)

INTRODUCTION OF THE DEBATE ON THE DEFENCE BUDGET VOTE 2023 (VOTE 23) IN THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, BY HON THANDI RUTH MODISE, MINISTER FOR DEFENCE AND MILITARY VETERANS, 23 MAY 2023, GOOD HOPE CHAMBERS, PARLIAMENT, CAPE TOWN

 23 May 2023

1.GREETINGS

Speaker of the National Assembly

Deputy Speaker, House Chairpersons of the National Assembly Deputy Minister of Defence and Military Veterans,

Cabinet Colleagues and Deputy Ministers

Chairpersons and Members of the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans and the Joint Standing Committee on Defence

Honourable Members

Acting Secretary for Defence, the Chief of the National Defence Force and the Acting Director-General of the DMV

Chairpersons, CEOs and Heads of all Defence Entities

Distinguished Guests

2.ENVIRONMENTAL SCAN

Honourable Speaker,

The future is increasingly unpredictable. At the Global Level, we see an  escalating political, economic and social stress with an emergence of global ideological contestation.

At the Continental Level, we still labour under the legacy of Colonialism, with persistent disputed sovereignty and territorial integrity. We have seen the rise of political instability and the resurgence of coups de’tats. The global drive for access to Africa’s resources has resulted in poor progress with on-continent resource harnessing and beneficiation utilisation.

This results in severe socio-economic disparity, instability, as well as violent ethnic and religious extremism.

At the Domestic Level, the slow growth of our economy has further impacted negatively on our infrastructure development, maintenance and service delivery challenges; as well as an increased social dependence on the State. This has been exacerbated by institutionalised fraud, corruption and criminality. We have seen an increase in violence, crime and social unrest and the degradation of society. All these do not enable us to quicken the realisation of true democratisation.

South Africa has an extensive land borderline (about 4 854 km), with 72 ports of entry, nine seaports of entry and a coastline of 2 798 km, as well as 10 (ten) airports. Through the porous land borders, various threats to the state undermine state sovereignty. Maritime border insecurity further allows the illicit harvesting of our country’s marine resources.

3.FY 2022/23 FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

Honourable Speaker,

During FY 2022/23, the DOD’s Baseline Appropriation of R49,1 billion was increased with R2,5 billion to R51,6 billion through the Adjusted Estimates of National Expenditure. The unaudited actual expenditure as at 31 March 2023 was R54,6 billion (105,8%).

4.SOME FY 2022/23 NOTEWORTHY ACHIEVEMENTS

Honourable Speaker,

Regional Security

The SANDF continued to participate in various Regional Security initiatives, such as:

• Contributing to the UN Peace Mission in the DRC, including in the robust Force Intervention Brigade.
• Leading the fighting element of the SADC Mission in the Republic of Mozambique (SAMIM).

Support to the People

In support to the people of South Africa:

• The SANDF continues to execute border safeguarding in 5 Provinces in an endeavour to safeguard and maintain the integrity of the country’s borderline.  
• Maritime coastal patrols were conducted.
• Various SANDF Force Structure Elements remain on continuous standby as a contingency to deter possible acts of violence and criminality; as well as to deter possible threats to critical infrastructure across the country.
• The SANDF is on continuous standby to render humanitarian aid, disaster relief and assistance of all sorts in all Provinces. Examples were the Kwa-Zulu Natal Floods and the adverse weather in Coffee Bay.

5.FY 2023/24 ALLOCATION AND RING-FENCED MONIES

Honourable Speaker,

The Department of Defence received a total Budget Allocation of R51,1 billion for FY 2023/24. This is a nett decrease of approximately R500 million from the previous adjusted budget.

Of this R51,1 billion - R30,6 billion has been set as the ceiling for the Compensation of Employees (COE).

• This is underfunded by approximately R2,6 billion based on the actual feet on the ground.
• The COE expenditure is approximately 64% of the total budget allocation.

Of the R51,1 billion budget allocation, R8,6 billion is earmarked for specific expenses, including:

• R1,5 billion to Armscor.
• R2,8 billion for accommodation charges, leases and municipal services.
• R1,5 billion is earmarked for an air transport lift capability and repair and maintenance of Navy Defence Systems.
• R1 billion for deployments in the DRC.
• R800 million has also been allocated for the continuation of the implementation of the exit mechanism for the SANDF members.
• R850 million for the deployment of the SANDF members in Mozambique.

Honourable Speaker,

During my recent performance appraisal, we focussed on how to arrest the declining capabilities of the SANDF. The Department must prepare for this by identifying and prioritising a number of costed interventions, especially in the areas of border- safeguarding and the safe-guarding of our national territory.

Policies must also be re-aligned to deal with the rejuvenation of the SANDF.

6.MINISTERIAL DIRECTIVE

Honourable Speaker,

Following my Defence Budget Vote Speech last year; on 27 August 2022 I promulgated a Ministerial Directive to the Department of Defence and Armscor that provides concrete strategic direction to the Defence Function for multiple Medium-Term Strategic Frameworks. My four strategic end-states to be pursued are as follows:

7.DOD END STATE 1: FUTURE STRATEGIC DIRECTION

Amongst other matters, I was directed by the President to evaluate the implementation of the Defence Review 2015. A revised Level of Defence Ambition and a revised Defence Strategic Trajectory must  be  developed.  This evaluation must be submitted to the JCPS Cabinet Committee before 31 March 2024.

Following my Ministerial Directive, work commenced on the development of the Revised Level of Defence Ambition, namely:

• Firstly, the development of a Future RSA Defence and Security Policy Concept, cognisant of the emerging security environment and the constraints facing the Defence Function.
• Secondly, the development of a Future Military Capstone Concept that will provide the strategizing concepts on how to pursue our national defence and security policy.
• Thirdly, the development of the Chief of the SANDF’s Long-Term Capability Development Strategic Plan which will direct the development path of the SANDF for the next twenty years. The Chief of the SANDF has coined this the “Journey to Greatness”.

Work has continued strongly in these areas, focussed on the five military priorities that I outlined in my 2022 Budget Speech, namely:

• Priority 1: Promoting Nation Building through the pursuance of a common national identity coupled to values and ethics that reinforce such an identity.
• Priority 2: Safeguarding the Nation and building internal stability by strengthening the institutions of the State and growing the economy.
• Priority 3: Securing Regional Development by creating conditions conducive to regional security and stability as well as increased investment that drives regional growth and development through consumer economies.
• Priority 4: Enhancing Cyber Resilience through a focused strategy that enhances the resilience of critical digital infrastructure.
• Priority 5: Enhancing the Hard Power Capability of the SANDF through a small but core major combat capability that is relevant and ready to meet future conflict challenges.

I intend to bring in all stakeholders to participate in a number of work sessions, which will lead to engagements with the two Parliamentary Committees in the next four months, where we will discuss the draft Defence and National Security Policy Concept as well as the Future Military Capstone Concept.

I trust that this process will lead us to a new Long-Term Capability Development Strategy.

Journey To Greatness

Honourable Speaker,

A scientific evaluation of the SANDF has painted a bleak picture of our diminishing capabilities, largely because of persistent budget cuts. The ravages of underfunding and unserviceable capabilities against escalating tasks has had a devastating effect.

Within the confines of the Ministerial Directive, and under the guidance of the Chief of the SANDF, a multi-medium term strategic planning process has been embarked upon that seeks to rescue the SANDF. In this Plan, the SANDF calls for:

• A Comprehensive Border Safeguarding Optimisation Plan.

• The Establishment of a Rapid Reaction Capability.
• The  establishment of a maintenance, repair and overhaul capability to maintain its legacy systems.
• Revisiting the personal equipment and overall needs of the soldier.

8.DOD END STATE 2: RESTRUCTURING THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE

Honourable Speaker,

We need to be cognisant of the uniqueness of the SANDF. Universal military practices must inform the structuring of the SANDF, including structuring into combat formations with a complementary command and staff system at the military strategic, operational and tactical levels.

I have directed that work begin to reconfigure, reposition and reorganise the Department to ensure coherent command and control and appropriate governance and accountability.

This work must commence in 2023, focussing on the Department’s Enterprise Architecture, High-Level Business Processes and the development of a new DOD Macro-Structure and a Macro-Functional Structure in accordance with the processes set by Government.

Furthermore, the vacant senior posts in the Defence Secretariat must be filled by the end of FY 2023/24. This is important for the enhancement of  civil control. The posts of Secretary for Defence and Chief Financial Officer are in process of being filled.

9.DOD END STATE 3: AGSA FINDINGS & REGULARITY

Irregular Expenditure & Material Irregularity

Honourable Speaker,

In FY 2021/22 the Department received a qualified audit opinion on four balances from the Auditor General

Excluding matters related to the under-funding of Compensation of Employees; in FY 2022/23 the Department incurred unaudited irregularities of:

• R1 million in Fruitless and Wasteful Expenditure.
• R475 million in Irregular Expenditure.

The Department has received nine material irregularities from the Auditor General as at the end of FY 2022/23.

Due to the under-funding of the Compensation of Employees (CoE) allocation the Department will most likely incur unauthorised expenditure of approximately R3 billion in FY 2022/23.

I am in constant engagement with the Acting Secretary for Defence, the Chief of the SANDF and the Department to find lasting solutions, including concrete actions which I will now outline to you.

Procurement Review

Honourable Speaker,

The single most prevalent problem is the Defence Procurement System. We simply cannot continue with non-compliance in the procurement of goods and services. We have agreed that any form of corrupt activity must be rooted out and pursued vigorously.

The Accounting Officer has been instructed to conduct a complete and rigorous review of the whole procurement system, to identify the root causes, and to put in place a robust and high integrity procurement system. In the main this has not happened, as we are awaiting the new Procurement Bill by the National Treasury, which will have a significant impact on the way forward.

Nonetheless, there has been some progress in that the Acting Secretary for Defence has entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with the National School of Government to enhance procurement training.

Unless we modernise the DOD’s common information systems, and in this instance the digitisation of the defence procurement system, effective governance and accountability cannot be achieved. As a National Security Organ, it is incumbent upon the Department to ensure digital sovereignty over the information it manages.

Consequence Management

Honourable Speaker,

We have agreed within the Department of Defence that consequence management is a command function; by inference, all Commanders are to ensure consequence management without fear of favour in all areas under their command. It is the Commanders responsibility to initiate the disciplinary process or register a criminal proceeding with the South African Police Service or the Military Police. Thereafter the Disciplinary System and/or Criminal Justice System must take its course.

I have made it abundantly clear to the Department that wrong-doers will not be protected, that the investigations will be thorough and that the necessary consequences will be expedited. Where Commanders are tardy, it is incumbent on firstly the Chief of the SANDF and then the Accounting Officer to take all reasonable steps to ensure that the matters proceed speedily.

With regard to material irregularity, as well as other high-level reports by the Auditor General, the Public Protector, the Special Investigative Unit, or the Hawks: the Accounting Officer must take immediate steps to expedite the required consequence management. The reputation of the Department of Defence hinges on this matter.

DOD Assets

Honourable Speaker,

The Department received a Qualified Audit Opinion on the Completeness of DOD Movable Tangible Assets.  

To date, a considerable amount of the DOD’s current R126 billion assets have been physically verified for existence. This verification takes place within the Services and Divisions and is consolidated by the Chief of Logistics.

This situation is less than satisfactory. The root causes are three-fold:

• Firstly, the DOD is running legacy Common IT Systems that are unable to integrate and blend financial and logistics information.
• Secondly, the corporate structure for asset management within the Logistics Division is woefully inadequate.
• Thirdly, some unit commanders are not performing all of their command responsibilities with regard to resource management.

Furthermore, a special audit needs to be done on all firearms, weapons and other statutory items in the DOD.

PERSONNEL MATTERS

I have instructed the Chief of the SANDF to rejuvenate the Force by:

• Urgently reviewing the practices and criteria used by the South African National Defence Force to recruit, select, appoint, promote and place its members.
• Prioritising the appointment and promotion of competent, dynamic and enthusiastic soldiers to leadership and critical posts.
• Placing greater emphasis on the training of future military leaders in financial and procurement management practices.
• Accelerating the recruitment of appropriate highly skilled people into specialised environments in the SANDF.

I also instructed the Secretary for Defence to review and shorten the process whereby Public Service Employees are recruited and employed.

These are to be prioritised in 2023.

Legacy Common Defence IT Systems

Honourable Speaker,

The legacy Common IT Systems in the DOD are fragile and a material risk to the Department. These legacy systems are not integrated, they are not compliant to the standards of the PFMA, and that they do not support good governance and accountability.

I instructed the Department to make a strategic assessment of this matter and to come to the Council on Defence on a Defence Digital Strategy for the way forward, including considering bespoke Defence Enterprise Systems in the interim.

10.DOD END STATE 4: ARMSCOR & DEFENCE INDUSTRY

Honourable Speaker,

The public and private components of the Defence Industry must be rigorously analysed and a clear Defence Industry Strategy be developed to support the South African National Defence Force.

Armscor’s yearly report indicates that its consideration of a future value-proposition for its Shareholder is empowered by four positive developments.

• Firstly, the realistic approach of the Future RSA Defence and Security Policy Concept which provides clear future guidance.
• Secondly, the SANDF’s steady progress with its Military Capstone Concept, which will create a stable long-term baseline for deducing military requirements and thereby shaping industry.
• Thirdly, the long-awaited implementation of the Joint Capability Development Approach in the SANDF has arrived.
• Fourthly, the SANDF, through the Long-Term Plan – the ‘Journey to Greatness’ – has posited certain of its capabilities in the short, medium and long term which Armscor must prioritise, including:
  • The establishment of a rapid deployment capability to react to situations of insecurity and disaster relief,
  • The availability of work-horses across all Services and Divisions.  
  • Medium transport aircraft and helicopters to project capabilities from one deployment area to the next.
  • Air combat capabilities to defend and protect.
  • The surface and sub-surface platforms to defend and protect our vast sea space and marine resources in the Eastern and Western Maritime Theatres.
  • A viable landward capability to safeguard and defend the landward borderline and safeguard the national territory.
  • A capable military health support capability to support both active and retired soldiers, and also military veterans.

Therefore, Armscor will focus extensively on extending the life-span of existing equipment that are key in highly probable operations, including by enhancing it with relatively mature commercial technologies in the so-called spin-in approach. Armscor has responsibility to build the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Capability to support the SANDF.

Armscor has developed three possible approaches towards a future Denel. Considering the development of many local defence industry members that are financially stable without SANDF orders and that can deliver similar services than Denel, the premise of these options is that the future Denel should have a more discrete footprint than historic Denel.

I have directed that the approach to the conceptualisation of future Denel, must not only be based on SANDF demand, but must also be sensitive to factors such as the gravitas of the RSA and the incubation of export opportunities.

The Armscor model for future Denel includes the leveraging of Defence Intellectual Property and prototypes, potentially by making it available to appropriate industry members who would be in a position to export it successfully.

Another step towards a different experience at Armscor, is to establish a single point of entry for all new requirements from the SANDF or other security actors – the so-called “Fast Response Office”.

Armscor’s research and analysis domain must be commended for its rapid and pragmatic reaction to the evolution of defence policy and military planning.

11.MILITARY OMBUD

Honourable Speaker,

The Military Ombud continues to be an important instrument for civil-military relations and civil oversight, as well as promoting labour-peace within the SANDF.

12.MILITARY VETERANS

Honourable Speaker,

We continue to be faced with the challenges still facing military veterans and their dependents. During this FY 2023/2024, we will be steaming ahead with the roll out of the long-awaited military veterans’ pension as legislated. Suffice to say, we have been quite concerned about the developments in the DMV and measures are apace to correct the situation and build the necessary capacity so as to ensure service delivery to our community of military veterans.

Deputy Minister Makwetla will elaborate further on this and related matters of military veterans when he delivers his speech for budget Vote 26 respectively.

13.CONCLUDING STATEMENTS

I place a challenge to the leadership of the Republic, including this House. Every appreciation process of the DOD points to the inevitable need for more boots on the ground to execute the many tasks given to the Department. To the contrary, Government directs the downward manage of the human resource baseline. It is our duty to reconcile these mutually exclusive positions. Sustained funding of the SANDF remains an unavoidable requirement.

In conclusion Honourable Speaker, as the Executive Authority responsible for both Vote 23 and Vote 26, I submit these for your approval.

I thank you.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

DEBATE ON THE DEFENCE BUDGET VOTE 2023 (DEFENCE) AND VOTE 26 (MILITARY VETERANS) IN THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, BY HON THABANG MAKWETLA, DEPUTY MINISTER FOR DEFENCE AND MILITARY VETERANS, 23 MAY 2023, GOOD HOPE CHAMBERS, PARLIAMENT, CAPE TOWN

 

23 May 2023

1.GREETINGS

Hon Speaker,

The Minister of Defence and military veterans,

Hon Members of Parliament,

Government is not relenting in its endeavour to improve the plight of military veterans in South Africa. Last week we were handing over thirteen decent houses to military veterans in Midvaal, Savannah City Settlement, in the Sedibeng district, thanks to the Gauteng Department of Human settlements for their consistency in honouring the SLA between the two departments. As a province, Gauteng is leading the delivery of houses to military veterans in all nine provinces. At 883 units delivered since the commencement of this program in 2014, the next closest province at 358 is the Eastern Cape. We wish to take this opportunity to commend the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements for this exemplary performance.

With the interventions explored at the Minmec of the Minister of Human Settlements two weeks ago, I am confident that together with MECs of Human Settlements in the provinces, we will overcome the many glitches surrounding housing delivery to military veterans soon.

Honourable members, when government adopted the policy to house military veterans in 2011, it was never anticipated that a decade later there would still be military veterans who are without houses, for the simple reason that this is not a big community. Secondly, these are citizens of mature age and are not getting younger. As a result, many of them have perished waiting in the queues.

According to the records 4,253 applicants are approved for housing. Of this number, 2,083 which constitutes 49%, or almost half of them, have received their houses. It is my considered view that with the available capacity of government in the provinces to deliver houses, this remaining applicants can be housed within a relatively short period of time, if we can eliminate a number of subjective weaknesses around housing. We intend convening a housing Indaba with military veterans’ associations to address these challenges, including the critical and urgent revision of the Regulations governing housing. This will be with a view to arrive at a determination of a realistic but purposeful deadline within which this program, the provision of housing to military veterans can and should be brought to an end. In our current APPS the target of houses to be delivered is 480 units.

Another significant achievement in the endeavour by government to restore the dignity of military veterans, is the commencement of the rollout of the Military Veterans’ Pension following the tabling of the Regulations for 30 days in Parliament as communicated by the minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Min Modise on the 22nd December 2022.

The Government Pensions Administration Agency (GPAA) deserves accolades for putting citizens first in their work. They made it possible, against all odds, for this pension to be rolled out by the 24th April 2023. They put in place all the requisite framework agreements with DMV; they established the standard operating procedures; established the Business Requirement Specification; designed the admission configuration; opened the PMG Account; created email addresses for applications and enquiries, and trained Regional Administrators, for military veterans to access this relief.

Hon members, in settlements where we have succeeded to house military veterans in significant numbers, their outcry is about the absence of incomes for livelihoods. The desire to place military veterans in jobs has not been successfully coordinated, this has been further compounded by the constraint state of our national economy and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is for this reason that the breakthrough we have finally made to introduce the military veterans’s pension is a huge achievement, thanks to the political support the PTT brought to bear on this matter.

Military veterans who are without pensions for the services rendered to our country will therefore be a thing of the past. They will now be modestly cushioned by this pension. In this regard, it has since come to light through the intervention by Hon Bantu Holomisa, that pensions of civil servants who were employed by the TBVC states, soldiers included, are mired in administrative complexities which have left some of them without any pensions. The matter stands referred by the President to the Minister of Finance for prompt attention. The ministry will monitor progress in this regard, and ensure that no military veteran is left behind, without a pension. We intend to load 4,000 recipients of this pension by the end of this financial year according to our plans. R330 million has been set aside for this purpose in this financial year.

Honourable members, while still on pensions, we must clear the misunderstanding regarding the Military Pension Act of 1976 and the MVP as introduced by DMV. In short, the two instruments are not the same and are not reconcilable. The 1976 Military Pension was not a pension in its object, it was a compensation policy for injuries incurred by soldiers during their years of service in the SADF before 1994, which was paid in modest instalments to the end of a recipient’s life. This included those who were serving their call-ups in accordance with the National Service system under the apartheid system. Pensions in SADF only accrued to members of the Permanent Force, the professional soldiers who were members of the Regular Force, at the point of exiting the system.

The above notwithstanding, there is a need nevertheless to harmonise the contemporary compensation for injuries as provided for in the military veterans act, Act no 18 of 2011, and the “1976 Military Pension Act” which is also a compensation for injuries too.

Hon members of the House, the Department of Military Veterans derives its mandate from the Military Veterans Act of 2011, which requires it to provide national policy and standards on socioeconomic support to military veterans and their dependents, including benefits and entitlements to help realise a dignified, unified empowered and self-sufficient community of military veterans.

Hon House Chair, we once again table the budget of DMV this year under the stewardship of an acting incumbent, the newly appointed Acting-DG of DMV, Vice-Admiral (Ret) Mosioa Hlongwane, who is fortunately not a stranger to this oversight committee of Parliament as Committee members have interacted with him in his previous responsibility as Chief of the South African Navy. This development is politically most regrettable, but a necessary intervention by the ministry in observing the injunctions of our administrative law to protect public interests and to advance the strategic priorities of the 6th Administration of our democratic government.

Last year when we presented our plans we pointed out that we were optimistic about prospects for meaningful advances in our work. This was because there were, and still are, several critical subjective weaknesses which we could have overcome, and will overcome. We must stick to the rule-book in order to achieve a turnaround of DMV and to regain lost time in fixing the backend of the department, in order to ratchet up the output of the front-end of the department. We need to put in place reliable and capacitated internal audit controls, we need proper legal and labour services, we need an adequately staffed Human Resource branch, we need more planners, we need disciplined conventional supply-chain management, we need communicators, to mention some of the debilitating gaps we urgently need to attend to, in order to achieve bigger successes.

This high vacancy rate was further exacerbated by suspensions which were not expeditiously addressed.

Lastly, the project to buttress the efficiency of the department’s business operations through automation, which we reported about when we tabled our plans last year, is still work in progress with modest advances made.

In other areas of the department, work has been proceeding apace.

• The Department has now paid out more than R6 million for compensation for injuries and trauma. The Department will ensure that the processing of the remaining applicants is fast-tracked by increasing the availability of doctors who are dedicated to provide this service with a few to finalise this program by the end of this financial year.
• The extension of health services to military veterans’ dependents has been endorsed by the PTT. The implementation of this decision has not received sufficient administrative attention. The planning session of DMV agreed to convene a special workshop with SAMHS to explore modalities of delivering comprehensive health services to military veterans.
• Education support has scored significant improvements however there are still structural deficiencies such as the absence of collaboration protocols with basic education in the provinces. The DMV education support program has produced over 50 graduates in the last financial year alone, including 2 medical doctors and 5 law graduates. R126 million was spent in the previous year, 2022/2023 in support of the education of children of military veterans.

Hon members, one more urgent task, as I move towards conclusion, that the Acting-DG will help us attend to expeditiously, is the convening of the long overdue conference of the umbrella body of our military veteran’s associations, SANMVA. SANMVA is one of the important enablers we need to realise the many things we must do for military veterans and with military veterans. We must commit to accomplishing this task by end of the second quarter this year.

DMV’s 2023/2024 financial year budget has increased by R224.7million from the previous year in nominal terms, and in real terms by 27.3% after adjustments for inflation. The biggest increase in nominal terms was in Programme 2 with and additional R171.8 million allocated. Programme 3 also sees a major proportional increase of R69.6 (47.15% nominal increase).

• Compensation of employees remains stable and increases only marginally from R133.4 million in 2022/2023 to R134.4 million in 2023/2024.
• The allocation for Training and Development increases from R28.2 million in 2022/2023 to R38 million in 2023/2024
• The biggest increase in the budget allocation is in terms of Households, which increases from R214.1 million in 2022/2023 to R442.3 million in 2023/2024. This is largely due to social Benefits for military veterans that increases from R48.041 million in 2022/2023 to R344.15 million in 2023/2024.

In summary, the DMV budget for this financial year is R894,7 million from R670,0 in the previous financial year. It is expected to increase at an average annual rate of 16.5% to R1.1 million in 2025/2026. This increase is mainly due to the allocation of additional funding amounting to R839 million for rolling out the pension benefit to Military Veterans and their dependents as well as R11.3 million over the same period to cover cost-of-living adjustments.

Hon House Chair, I wish to take this opportunity to thank military veterans in all our provinces, many of whom have been patient with us, many of whom have displayed the hallmark of their profession, discipline even under trying times. Their understanding is appreciated.

As we move closer to the 30th Anniversary of our Freedom Day a year from now, let us work together, as a disciplined and purposeful army with the determination to help government restore our dignity and a place of honour in our communities.

My word of appreciation goes to my Minister, Min Modise, the Chairpersons of both our oversight committees and their hard working members, the Secretary for Defence and the Chief-Of-the-Defence-Force, the Acting-DG of DMV, and the Undeterred Senior Managers of the two departments and the ministry.

I thank you.