South Africa’s first rapid railway, the Gautrain, comes at a cost of R25 billion. South Africa’s military expenditure for 2010/11 is expected to be R31 billion. (www.treasury.gov.za, www.gautrain.co.za)
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How is it at all possible to budget 31 billion for military ,as we are not involved in any wars(that I know of) ??? I am 100% sure there is some huge backhands going on in the government iro this.How is that not betraying the poor (12 million people) who do not have houses,jobs and running water??
Andre, quite easily, just take the airforce, they have at least 5 bases. A training school, a whole bunch of transporters, copters, and fighters.
The navy itself is not a cheap venture. Then there is still the army which has probably the most people involved, cheaper hardware but nonetheless it can be quite expensive.
I think Trevor got around R600 billion to play with when he was finance minister. That makes it around 5% of gov. budget or something like that.
Backhands? Well it is not a South African disease, I am sure it happens all over the world. Not condoning it but if no proof is offered then I am inclined to say it is just another conspiracy theory.
If you want to see stupid military expenditure go have a look at the nukes the previous gov. built. Could have given the SA tax payers several years worth of no tax. Who would they nuke? Terrorists crossing the border? lol.
Interesting for me to note is how much negative press there was initially about the gautrain and whether it is a white elephant.
The military is probably one of the largest employers in this country. So it will help to educate and improve people’s lives.
Participation in the military is optional and therefore it will definetly contribute to reducing un-employment and to help stabilize our country and neighbours. The previous government was stupid enough to exclude the majority of citizens from the army, worsening our poverty situation.
Why do you need a military if you are not at war? Have a look at Haiti and Chili…
Tom, nations build nuclear bombs in order *not* to use them. Why do you think the cold war ended without a big explosion? Precisely because both sides had the bomb. Isn’t it amazing that even though many nations have had the bomb since 1945, none have used it? That’s why nations (including SA) build nukes – so they won’t have to use them.
If there were now only 12million folks without jobs, housing and running water in our country, we should consider it very fortunate indeed. Truth is, there were very likely far more than that number as far back as l997. For the rest, I think our commentary responses are pretty good. We do still have some very good, reasonable and informed people in our country!