SANDF is ragtag army

Military experts have stopped just short of calling the South African armed forces a joke but say the SANDF is so inadequately equipped that it would be unable to contain a minor internal revolt.

The 2014 SA Defence Review, approved by the cabinet this month, warns of the critical decline of the armed forces due to "neglect, lack of proper ammunition and ageing aircraft".

This is an indictment of Africa's "superpower", a country involved in UN peacekeeping missions in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan, and in anti-piracy patrols off the Mozambique coast.

The report warned that such deployments in the future were under threat because of inadequate funding.

Reuters quoted the report as saying that it might take "five years to arrest the decline and another five years to develop a sustainable defence capability".

The report recommended R116- billion in annual funding for the defence force - or 3.3% of GDP - to attain the highest level of military security.

Bantu Holomisa, the deputy chairman of the Defence Force Services Commission, said the commission recommended the review of defence force capabilities after it came to light that troops were ill-equipped.

"With the infantry trucks in those bases, we are not ready to face any internal conflict.

"If there were to be a riot and the police were unable to contain it, the armed forces would have to run for their lives," Holomisa said.

Military expert Professor Anthoni van Nieuwkerk said the quality of equipment in the armed forces was uneven.

He said the country did not need sophisticated fighter jets such as the Gripen "flying around at supersonic speed. What we need is reconnaissance aircraft to fly long distances and infantry trucks to move personnel around".

He said the review was clear on what was needed: strengthen peacekeeping capacity and increase the army's state of readiness for emergency and unrest situations.

The deaths of 13 South African troops at the hands of rebels in the Central African Republic last year has been partly attributed to inadequacy of combat supplies. - Additional reporting by Reuters