SANDF is Underspending 80% on Research and Development

Statement by Maliyakhe Shelembe MP – DA Deputy Spokesperson on Defence and Military Veterans:

The Department of Defence’s (DoD) own latest figures confirm a deeply worrying reality: South Africa is investing barely one percent of its defence budget into research and development (R&D), a fraction of the five percent recommended in the 2015 Defence Review.

Over the span of three financial years, the DoD has fallen short by over R2 billion annually. In the 2025/26 financial year alone, the shortfall stands at R2.26 billion. In effect, the Department is spending only one-fifth of the recommended amount, underspending by approximately 80% every year. This is a national security risk unfolding in plain sight, not just a budget.

Without serious R&D funding, our technological edge erodes, while the SANDF loses its ability to develop, modernise, or even maintain sophisticated systems. An army that does not innovate is an army that falls behind. We become dangerously dependent on foreign suppliers, with all the political and supply chain risks that bring. When threats evolve, South Africa will be forced to buy solutions from abroad instead of building them at home.

The economic damage is just as real. South Africa’s arms industry, from Denel to smaller innovative firms, relies on state-backed R&D to stay competitive. When government stops investing in innovation, it starts exporting jobs, skills, and opportunities. Starve that pipeline, and you lose high-tech jobs, export revenue, and the expertise we desperately need to grow the economy. Defence exports were once a South African success story however, today that success story is being quietly dismantled.

While the Department has tried to ring-fence small amounts, allocating just 1.1% to R&D while maintaining a 5% target is not a strategy, it is an admission of failure. Our troops and taxpayers deserve better.

The DoD is not just underfunding research; it is presiding over the slow decline of the industrial base that once made South Africa a credible and ethical defence exporter. This means fewer factories, fewer engineers, fewer skilled jobs, and a weaker economy. Every rand not invested in defence innovation today increases the cost of rebuilding those capabilities tomorrow.