The South African military said Tuesday that budget cuts have
hampered its defence capacity at
home and its ability to participate in foreign peacekeeping operations.
home and its ability to participate in foreign peacekeeping operations.
National army chief
Lieutenant General Lindile Yam sharply criticised the government for the
funding shortage, saying the army was even struggling to buy uniforms.
"These
budget cuts impacts negatively on our force operations efforts," Lt Gen
Yam told journalists at the army headquarters in Pretoria.
"There is a danger coming that seems no one is seeing here."
Going to zero
Lt
Gen Yam said the army's defence budget was 28 percent of the GDP during
apartheid, but has been whittled down to less than one percent of the
GDP.
"We have gone to less than one percent and maybe we are going to
zero, I don't know," said Lt Gen Yam, saying politicians were playing
"dangerous games" with the budget.
Defence minister
Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has previously said that funding problems have
been caused by the post-apartheid government prioritising spending on
previously neglected poor black communities.
Lt Gen
Yam, who took over command of the army two years ago, said South Africa
was not immune to extremist attacks, pointing to an Islamist insurgency
that erupted a year ago in neighbouring Mozambique.
"Look at what is happening in our neighbour. Terrorists... cutting people's necks. If it's in Mozambique it's here."
Lose credibility
As
one of Africa's military powerhouses, South Africa has deployed troops
to peacekeeping operations in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and in
Sudan's Darfur region.
It currently deploys around 1,300 soldiers as part of a UN intervention brigade deployed in the strife-torn eastern DRC region.
Its army has also assisted with elections logistics in countries such as Madagascar.
"But
we do not have the capacity to do that now... so we are also going to
lose credibility of calling ourselves an African renaissance nation,"
Yam said, calculating that an extra 50 billion rand ($3.5 billion) was
needed to lift standards.
The country's new Finance minister, Mr Tito Mboweni, is due to present his mid-term budget statement next Wednesday.
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