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SANDF Will Be Hard-Pressed To Assist In Future Catastrophes In SA – Modise

Children standing on the pavement during SANDF operations in Elsies River. Picture: Bertram Malgas/EWN

Defence and Military Veterans Minister Thandi Modise has warned that the defence force will be hard-pressed to assist in future catastrophes that may hit the country.

Modise told Parliament that this was due to a lack of funding and equipment.

Defence force members have been deployed to help police during the COVID-19 pandemic, in the Vaal River clean up and with health services in the North West province.

They are still involved in providing relief in flood-stricken KwaZulu-Natal.

Tabling the defence budget on Tuesday, Defence Minister Modise told the house that these deployments put the SANDF under great pressure as it was often not reimbursed and that supplies of crucial equipment were critically low.

Modise said that given continued budget cuts, there was a widening gap between what the SANDF was expected to achieve and the resources it was provided with to do its job.

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