Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Defence has called for the Department of Defence (DoD) to revive and capacitate the Defence Works Formation, and to treat this as a matter of urgency.

The Defence Works Formation was created some ten years ago to free the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) from total dependence, regarding infrastructure maintenance, repair and construction, on the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI).

But more recently the Defence Works Formation seems to have been neglected by the SANDF, most likely due to lack of funds. Indeed, in its press release on the matter, the committee referred to the “dissolution of this [Defence Works] capability”.

The committee noted that the DPWI had delivered poor workmanship during the Repairs and Maintenance Projects (RAMP) at 1 Military Hospital (in Pretoria), 2 Military Hospital (in Cape Town) and 3 Military Hospital (in Bloemfontein). Although the 2 Military Hospital RAMP had been completed, those for 1 Military and 3 Military Hospitals had not, despite the expenditure of all the allocated funds, which raised the question of value for money in these two RAMPs.

The committee was of the opinion that reviving the Defence Works Formation would free the DoD from such poor DPWI performance. The SANDF had become totally dependent on the DPWI for the management of infrastructure projects. The consequence was delays and cost escalations in projects. Further, over the period 2014 to 2018, the DPWI had underspent on DoD facilities to the tune of R1.9-billion, leading to a deterioration in SANDF infrastructure, some of which was now unusable.

“The decision that led to the loss of critical skills within the Works Formation rendered the DoD powerless, which negatively impacted on project management,” affirmed committee chairperson Cyril Xaba. “We hope that these are lessons learned, but we hope the department can move with speed to capacitate the Works Formation.”

The committee has recognised that recapacitating the Defence Works Formation would take time. Further, it cautioned the DoD not to overload the formation, during its revival, with work that it could not yet carry out. It welcomed the proposal to use the Development Bank of Southern Africa as the implementation agent at the start of the transfer of functions from the DPWI.

Regarding the Military Hospital RAMPs, the committee resolved to approach the SANDF surgeon-general to quantify the effect of the delays in the RAMPs on the SANDF medical services. It pointed out urgent action was needed to curtail the “exorbitant cost escalation” created by these delays. The committee also called for internal disciplinary processes against those responsible for the delays in these programmes, while giving space to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations to complete its investigations.