I would like to begin by welcoming the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, back from Moscow, home to President Jacob Zuma’s favourite dictator, President Vladimir Putin.

We all now know the visit ended in what the Minister must have thought was a humiliating scandal, but what we thought was a scene from the movie, “The Dictator”.

An extra fuel stop was just too much for the President and so, at the cost of millions of Rands, four chartered aircraft were used to transport him home, while the Minister, and the rest of the entourage, endured the indignity of flying home on commercial aircraft.

All I can say is the Minister is lucky the President’s favourite dictator is President Valdimir Putin, and is not North Korea’s supreme leader, Kim Jong Un, who, last week, executed his Defence Minister, using anti-aircraft guns, for the relatively minor offence of falling asleep in a meeting.

If this was North Korea, which thankfully it is not, the Minister would no doubt have been dispatched, by anti-aircraft gun, long ago for “offences” much more serious than falling asleep in a meeting.

We are here to debate the R44.5 billion budget for defence in the 2015/16 Financial Year.

We do not know much about “force employment” but we do know that the Defence Force is deployed in some of the most dangerous conflict zones in the world.

We would therefore like to take this opportunity to “salute” the men and women in uniform serving at the “sharp end” of the Defence Force.

We “salute” you and say thank you for your service to our country.

We are, however, concerned about the current deployment of the Defence Force, in support of the South African Police Service, as part of “Operation Fiela”.

We all agree that the Defence Force should be deployed internally, in support of the South African Police Service, in “exceptional circumstances”, only.

We did not oppose the deployment of the Defence Force, in support of the South African Police Service, at the height of the xenophobic violence, because of the “exceptional circumstances”, which included: dealing with high levels of xenophobic violence, in more than one province, with limited police capability.

However, those “exceptional circumstances” no longer exist and, for that reason, we believe that the Defence Force’s role in “Operation Fiela” should be terminated, immediately.

There is no reason for the Defence Force to be deployed in a crime-combatting operation being conducted countrywide by the South African Police Service.

We know the Defence Force is in deep trouble.

We are spending too much on personnel, too little on operations, and much too little on capital acquisition.

We have a Defence Force geared for “welfare”, rather than a Defence Force geared for “warfare”.

The last best hope for the Defence Force is the Defence Review.

The Defence Review made a brutally honest assessment of the Defence Force.

The Defence Force, according to the Defence Review, is: “…in a critical state of decline, characterized by: force imbalance between capabilities; block obsolescence and unaffordability of many of its main operating systems; a disproportionate tooth-to-tail ratio; the inability to meet current standing defence commitments; and the lack of critical mobility.”

Moreover, the Defence Review found that: “…even with an immediate intervention, it could take at least five years to arrest the decline and another five years to develop a limited and sustainable defence capability.”

There is therefore an element of urgency: every day that is wasted talking about the Defence Review, rather than implementing it, accelerates the decline of the Defence Force.

However, for the past year the Defence Review has been bogged down in Parliament.

And, why has the Defence Review been bogged down for the past year in Parliament?

I’ll tell you why.

It’s not because the ANC are lazy.

Though, laziness is part of it.

It’s not because the ANC are incompetent.

Though, incompetence is part of it.

And, it’s not because the ANC are disinterested.

Though, disinterest is part of it.

It’s because the ANC don’t care.

They don’t care about the Defence Force.

And, they don’t care about the soldiers in the Defence Force.

That is the truth.

The Defence Review is a 344 page document, based on 436 stakeholder meetings, 76 public submissions, and cost the taxpayer nearly R11 million.

And yet, the Committee spent less than an hour deliberating before “rubber stamping” the Defence Review.

In the end, we know the Defence Review is not implementable because it is not affordable.

That is why we recommended:

    that the Defence Review should be withdrawn from Parliament;
    that the Defence Review should be revised so that it is affordable and implementable; and
    that the Defence Review should then be re-tabled in Parliament.

All this should take place within a period of not more than six months.

The Defence Review must succeed, so that the Defence Force can succeed.

Because, in the end, if the Defence Review fails, the Defence Force fails.

It’s as simple as that.

The Defence Force has become a state-within-a-state and is beyond effective scrutiny and oversight by Parliament.

We have never received a briefing on any operations conducted by the Defence Force.

We have never received a briefing on the military preparedness of the Defence Force.

We have never received a briefing on defence acquisition or the millions channeled through the Special Defence Account.

We have stopped receiving replies to written parliamentary questions on issues that matter.

This is nowhere better illustrated than written questions probing the cost of flights undertaken by President Jacob Zuma.

The standard response is:

“I cannot reply to the question as the information asked for is by nature sensitive as it pertains to the movement of the State President.”

Well, I have had enough.

I will, therefore, be submitting an application, in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (No. 2 of 2000), for access to records concerning the flights, and the costs of such flights, to transport President Jacob Zuma and his entourage to and from Russia.

I want the Minister to know that if she refuses to disclose the information, we will pursue this matter in the courts and compel the Minister to disclose the information.

In the end, I want the Minister to know this: if you want a war, you have come to the right place

You are accountable.

So, you can choose to be accountable.

Or, you will be forced to be accountable.

It’s your choice.

But, hear this from me: we have had enough; it’s this far and no further.

You have been warned.