The South African National Defence Force is dangerously close to being unable to meet its responsibilities at home and abroad as it runs at an annual deficit of R5 billion, experts have warned.

In line with its government's commitment to Africa and the New Economic Programme for Africa's Development (Nepad), South Africa's operational commitments have grown enormously since 1998. South African troops are on peacekeeping missions in Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Liberia.

As the army's commitments on the continent grow, the SANDF's operational budget is declining. 

Without a substantial increase in military spending the SANDF will fall apart, experts have warned.

"The crucial problem for the South African military is misalignment between policy and funding," a defence expert with the Institute for Security Studies, Len le Roux, told The Sunday Independent.

When South Africa's new defence policy was developed between 1994 and 1998, it was decided the primary function of the SANDF would be the defence of South Africa against external military aggression. All other functions were deemed "secondary".

Le Roux said, however, that there were three times more soldiers abroad on peacekeeping missions than was envisaged. Yet the size, design, structure and budget of the SANDF were still determined by its responsibilities within its own borders.

Available money is therefore spent on overseas missions and the routine maintenance of tanks, artillery and anti-aircraft systems, leaving huge deficiencies in the fuel and materiel needed for military training exercises. The army has not run a full brigade-level training exercise in 10 years.

The financial crisis is compounded by the ratio of generals to foot soldiers. This was "far too high", Le Roux said. "And generals are more expensive than foot soldiers."

The SANDF ratio is about 1:300, compared with an average in first world countries of 1:1 500/2 000.

With troops deployed throughout Africa, "the department has unfortunately allowed the army's part-time component to become unstaffed and just about non-operational. If we want a small defence force it needs to be backed up by a large part-time component."

Reports of a crisis in the combat-readiness of the SANDF were "cause for great concern", the Democratic Alliance's defence spokersperson, Rafeek Shah, said this week. It was "unacceptable" that the SANDF "may be unable to repel a serious conventional threat to South Africa's territorial integrity".

The cost of new acquisitions through the Strategic Defence Package deal had placed an "unbearable burden on the operational capacity of the SANDF", Shah said.

The 2005-6 budget was about R22 billion, and R8 billion of this went to this project. The acquisitions did not take into account real priorities, Le Roux said, and favoured the air force and navy above the army, while it was the army at the forefront of deployments in Africa.

"They also tie the defence budget down to a high-percentage expenditure on capital equipment while the operating budget for force development, force preparation and force employment is shrinking. This has led to many problems in the maintenance of standards and a general deterioration in the preparedness of the SANDF."

Mluleki George, the deputy defence minister, told parliament this week that criticism of the SANDF's combat readiness was exaggerated. He said the SANDF was one of the best-trained forces in Africa, and it was ready to defend South Africa's sovereignty and people.

He admitted that financial constraints had affected some military functions, but "there is no crisis in the county". The arms deal had not exacerbated the force's financial woes, but had "helped us be ready to defend this country".

The SANDF has started withdrawing from its support of the police in crime- fighting, and has announced the phasing out of the commando system, leading to concerns about the capacity of the police to cope with the more organised and militarised forms of crime.

Either the budget should be increased to match the defence force's extensive peace-keeping operations, said Le Roux, or "funding is left where it is and we cut down on our commitments.

"It is the responsibility of government to request from parliament sufficient funds to enable the SANDF to perform its tasks efficiently and effectively."

With acknowledgements to Caroline Hooper-Box and The Sunday Independent.