Maynier proposes amendment to act

AS JUDGE Willie Seriti’s Arms Procurement Commission stutters into motion, the DA’s defence spokesman David Maynier has introduced a private bill in Parliament aimed at preventing an arms deal scandal from happening again.

Maynier’s proposed amendment to the Defence Act (No 42 of 2002) would compel the Department of Defence to:

Table before Parliament its strategic acquisition master plan.

Report back on a quarterly basis on all armament acquisition programmes undertaken.

Table ad hoc reports on all armaments acquisition programmes in which there are cost overruns of more than 15 percent, and deviations of more than six months from weapons delivery schedules.

Based on the NunnMcCurdy Amendment introduced in the US in 1983 to address mushrooming armaments acquisition costs, Maynier’s bill was submitted to the speaker of Parliament for consideration on Thursday.

It comes against the backdrop of long-range failures on the part of the Department of Defence to comply with its own regulations in respect of reporting back to Parliament.

The 1996 White Paper on Defence envisages that an annual “acquisition master plan” as well as medium- to long-term “defence requirements statements” will be shared with Parliament’s standing committee on defence.

The department’s defence material division’s policy, process and procedures for the acquisition of armaments makes it clear that “the relevant parliamentary committee(s) will have an oversight function to provide guidance on relevant facets of its acquisition programmes”.

But for at least the past four years no such reports have been forthcoming.

On several occasions, defence mandarins have bluntly refused to account to Parliament on acquisitions related matters.

In this vein, in April last year then-defence and military veterans minister Lindiwe Sisulu stonewalled a written question about, among others, how many Gripen fighter aircraft and Hawk lead-in fighters had been delivered in terms of the strategic defence procurement packages of the late 1990s, and how many were serviceable.

Sisulu also blocked the appearance of former South African Air Force chief General Carlo Gagiano before the standing committee in which the usually forthright air force chief would have been required to provide answers to related questions.

More recently, Sisulu’s successor, Nosiviwe MapisaNqakula, has been equally unforthcoming on the planned acquisition of a high-end presidential jet.

Meanwhile it has come to light that – again without keeping Parliament in the loop – the Defence Department is engaged in several acquisitions programmes that observers have predicted will cost at least R100 billion – nearly half as much again as the estimated R70bn of the 1990s arms deal.

Under code names like Hoefyster, Assegaai, Vagrant, Vistula and Biro, the programme is directed at a variety of materiel, including offshore patrol vessels, anti-aircraft missile systems, armoured vehicles and artillery, most of which seeks to redress deficiencies in the defence capabilities of our infantry deployments on peacekeeping missions.

At the same time – and in an even more secretive environment – Weekend Argus understands that billions more rands have been earmarked for hitech weaponry such as thermobaric rocket-propelled grenades and multi-barrelled high-velocity machine guns.

Against this backdrop, last week the Arms Procurement Commission President Jacob Zuma established in late 2011 also ran into a wall with the refusal of the Defence Department to release key documents into evidence unless these were first declassified or other protocols were entered into.

Meanwhile, the South African Air Force has reportedly grounded almost the entire fleet of Agusta helicopters it acquired in the arms deal*1, and at least 14 of the 26 Gripen fighters have been mothballed as a result of shortfalls in operational funding.
 
In April last year, not one of the three submarines acquired by the navy was seaworthy, and a serious mechanical fault had been identified in the four frigates.

With acknowledgement to Ivor Powell and Weekend Argus