Budget cuts in the Department of Defence over the next three years spelled disaster for the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and the implementation of the Defence Review, experts said yesterday.The cuts could also threaten the SANDF’s peace missions.While President Jacob Zuma’s announcement this week of the return in April of South African troops keeping the peace in Darfur in Sudan will ease the burden, there will still be increased pressure on defence spending.United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa, himself a former military man, said the cuts clearly showed that the Defence Review approved by Parliament last year, had not yet been integrated into the systems of the SANDF.The review — an assessment finalised last year that measures SA’s combat readiness and proposes what must be done about it — found that the SANDF was in a state of severe decline that would need immediate attention."I suspect that the DoD (Department of Defence) has not yet sat down with the...
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