Dear Editor
The Department of Defence is unable to account for R2.1 billion paid to it by the National Treasury. The DA will be writing to the Chairperson of the Joint Committee on Defence, requesting urgent accountability.
The Democratic Alliance is outraged over the ongoing failure of the Department of Defence to pay outstanding allowances owed to SANDF troops deployed to the DRC. This is despite, as confirmed by the National Treasury, an additional R2.1 billion allocated to the Department for the support of the DRC deployment, with R813 million earmarked for the compensation of employees.
None of this money appears to have made it to the troops, as soldiers and their families continue to report they are owed as much as R600 000 each, and there is no sign of these payments being processed.
Officials from the Department of Defence are themselves clueless as to what happened to this money. In a May 2025 briefing to the Joint Standing Committee on Defence, Brigadier General Edem Abotsi claimed “most of the monies are put into their bank accounts back home” and that the SANDF “becomes their welfare officer”. This appears to be patently false. The question must now be asked: What has happened to the money?
Additionally, in a Parliamentary Question posed to the Minister pertaining to deployment allowances, Minister Motshekga admitted to knowing nothing on any South African Development Community allowances our brave troops are entitled to.
What is worse is that during an oral question session in the NCOP last week, the Minister of Defence insisted that the SANDF would not abandon their priority to fund the R415 million which is needed to maintain the President’s BBJ and the VVIP fleet, despite being unable to look after their troops.
The DA will urgently write to the Co-Chairpersons of the Joint Standing Committee on Defence to demand that the Minister and Department be summoned back to Parliament to explain:
- The contradiction between their May comments and the Treasury’s confirmed allocation;
- What portion of the R813.3 million has been disbursed;
- Who is paying for the costly backloading and shipping of equipment; and
- What framework exists to track and report on the remainder of the R2.1 billion allocation.
South Africa’s soldiers put their lives on the line – the least they deserve is timely, transparent, and fair compensation. The DA will not relent until this matter is fully explained and rectified.
Regards
Nicholas Gotsell MP
DA NCOP Member on Security & Justice