City Press reports that the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) announced in a letter last week that the promotions of colonels and navy captains was being put on hold indefinitely as budget cuts hit the defence force.
In a brief letter, Major General Nomsa Mkhize, chief director of HR management in the SANDF, stated that the seminar where these promotions were usually conferred annually had been postponed indefinitely. However, in January this year, the promotion of senior generals continued without restrictions. A colonel who has served in this rank for more than 20 years said it was a bitter pill to swallow and commented: “One understands that cost savings are necessary, but not without a proper plan or structure. It’s the same with the almost 1,500 senior soldiers who left with voluntary packages this year. These guys, ones you don’t really want to lose, take packages and go – and the dead wood you want to get out of the system, well, it just stays. The generals are unaffected, but the promotions of the colonels who handle all the management are now being sacrificed.” The military’s financial predicament became clearer last week, following its 2022/23 annual report and a presentation before the parliamentary committee on defence. Apart from the fact that the SANDF overspent about R3 billion on its budget this financial year, it is the defendant in several court cases in which the total claims amount to about R8.26 billion. The claims are for medical negligence, shooting incidents, injuries at the workplace and labour issues. Yet, as part of its medium-term budget savings, the Treasury has said that the defence force must cut an additional R1.9 billion from somewhere. A former senior officer pointed out: “Withholding promotions is an ineffective way of trying to save costs. The entire defence force must be made smaller and this can only be done if units are closed. The biggest expenses are rations, logistics and maintenance – not just a bunch of colonels,”
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Erika Gibson at City Press (subscriber access only)
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