Dear Editor
Reports today reveal that disaster management authorities formally requested South African Air Force (SAAF) assistance for flood relief in the Eastern Cape, but no help was forthcoming until yesterday – more than a week after the floods began. According to African Defence Review Director Darren Olivier, the request was made fairly early, but the SAAF could not respond due to a lack of available aircraft and flight crews.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) condemns this failure in the strongest terms. Over 90 lives have been lost and thousands displaced, yet the SANDF only managed to deploy a single Oryx helicopter, days too late and wholly inadequate for the scale of the disaster.
This is not an isolated incident. It is the latest evidence of a deep and systemic collapse in the SANDF’s operational capability. The same dysfunction was exposed during the chaotic withdrawal from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. What was once a foreign policy failure has now become a domestic humanitarian crisis.
The SAAF, once a critical first responder during floods, fires, and natural disasters, is now near collapse. Most aircraft are unserviceable, maintenance budgets have been gutted, and key personnel – especially flight engineers – are leaving the force due to poor pay and conditions.
This is not just a funding problem. It is a failure of leadership and political will.
The DA calls on Defence Minister Angie Motshekga to appear urgently before Parliament to:
- Account for the delay in deploying aerial support despite early requests from disaster authorities;
- Disclose how many flight engineers, serviceable aircraft, and qualified pilots are currently operational;
- Present an emergency plan to address the looming flight engineer shortage that could halt air operations entirely by December; and
- Explain how her Department intends to restore domestic disaster response capability.
The people of the Eastern Cape were not abandoned by chance—they were failed by a government that has allowed the SANDF to decay through years of budget cuts, mismanagement, and political indifference.
The DA reiterates its call for a full parliamentary inquiry into the SANDF’s operational failures and demands that the President and Cabinet take immediate responsibility for the dangerous state of our national defence capabilities.
It is time to treat the collapse of the SANDF as the national crisis it is.
Regards
Chris Hattingh MP
DA Spokesperson on Defence & Military Veterans