By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Deputy president Paul Mashatile says the peace keeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was a success.
Responding to questions in the national Council of Provinces on Thursday, Mashatile said South Africa did not go to the DRC on its own to resolve the conflict.
Fourteen SANDF soldiers were killed in the mission.
Mashatile said he and president Cyril Ramaphosa would continue efforts to prevent a full-scale war in the region, adding that the government had agreed to withdraw troops, but the process would be gradual because of the large amount of equipment the SANDF has.
The SANDF has for years faced resource shortages, affecting its ability to function effectively. Some MPs argued that the troop deployment, costing billions, was pointless.
“Indeed, the SANDF does require additional funding so they can have proper equipment and so on, not only to be able to participate in peaceful missions but also overall for the growth of the defence force and to be able to protect our country properly,” said Mashatile.
He said Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s proposed Budget included an increase of about R5-billion for the SANDF. While he recognised this wasn’t enough, he said it was a good start and promised that funding would grow as the economy improved in the coming years.
Mashatile noted that the SADC held an extraordinary summit to address the security situation in the DRC and expressed concern over the ongoing deterioration of the situation in the eastern part of that country.
The summit had resolved on the commencement of a phased withdrawal of SADC Mission and troops from the DRC as well as supporting supporting interventions for lasting peace and security in the eastern DRC.
Mashatile said the decision by SADC to withdraw the it’s mission in the DRC should not be seen as a sign of defeat or an abandonment of peace efforts, but a confidence-building measure to ensure peace and stability there.
He insisted that South Africa must not retreat from supporting peace initiatives, both in Africa and globally, as this was key to the country’s development.
Land Claims
MPs raised concerns about the government’s inability to settle existing land claims speedily, saying that at the current rate the process could take about two decades. They asked how the government planned to expedite the process as a backlog of 5,600 claims from 1998 persisted, with only 300 claims settled annually.
Mashatile said the finalisation of outstanding land claims was one of the government’s priorities. This was evident, he said, from the Commission on the Restitution of Land Rights, which introduced Project Kuyasa.
The project aims to reduce the backlog more quickly by implementing business processing systems and creating financial models to support land reform.
“In terms of these projections, about R11.6-billion will be allocated over the medium term to settle about 844 land restitution claims, with another R3-billion earmarked to allocate another 138,000 hectares of land,” said the Deputy President.
Mashatile said the interministerial committee on land reform and agriculture would continue to coordinate and collaborate with key departments to improve the turnaround times and the government’s capacity to fast-track the settlement of land claims.
He pointed out that a major challenge the government faced was the conflict that emerged during land redistribution and restitution efforts. He said tensions within communities and between households often arose, which could hinder progress.
Infrastructure
Government is to spend more than R940 billion over the next three years on infrastructure as part of fast-tracking service delivery to communities.
“Government will spend more than nine hundred and forty billion rand on infrastructure over the next three years, including R375 billion in spending by state-owned companies or enterprises themselves. Transnet has developed a five-year capital investment that focuses on infrastructure rehabilitation, capacity expansion, and freight logistics modernisation. Transnet will further invest R127.7 billion on rail, port, and pipeline infrastructure over the next five years to increase network efficiency.”
He says most of this work will be funded through State-Owned Entities.
“We have enough plans. We must now focus on implementation. So the issues that I am talking about now, about Eskom, transnet. I am talking about things that are already in the pipeline. A lot of these processes to ensure public sector participation will be rolling out in the course of this year. And I am sure most of them will be concluded this year to ensure that we see implementation.”
Watch Live in the video below:
Video Courtesy of Parliament.