South African Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has expressed the hope that the defence budget will be significantly increased over the next five years. She was addressing the media on Tuesday in her Budget Vote media briefing.

The 2015/2016 defence budget comes to R44.5-billion, which is about 1.1% of gross domestic product (GDP). "Our wish is that in, maybe, the next five years, the defence budget will be 2% of GDP, which will be in line with much of the rest of the continent."

"It's a wish," she said in answer to a question from Engineering News Online about how likely such an increase was, given the heavy burdens on the National Treasury. "We have to dream, in order for our dreams to be fulfilled. If you don't dream, it won't happen."

She accepted that there was a problem with resources. "But ultimately it has to be done. We have to have a well-resourced defence force." This is because of the challenges and threats facing Africa.

She also cited the conclusions of the Defence Review, which advocated increased defence spending. "I'm not saying that the Defence Review is going to be the saviour of the Defence Force." But the Defence Review had been drawn up by independent experts in the field of defence. "The government has to apply itself to the recommendations of the Defence Review," she affirmed.

She noted, for example, that the country's landward defence (basically, the army) was in a "sorry state". Something had to be done about it and that something had to be done by the government.

In her address to the media, Mapisa-Nqakula remarked, in conclusion, that "[w]e'd be naive if we thought that South Africa was immune to some of the challenges facing Africa." She also affirmed that the "rejuvenation" of the South African National Defence Force had started. "We have met some of the targets we have set for ourselves."

This was despite the failure of Parliament to complete the approval process for the Defence Review. The government had expected this to have been done by now. (The Defence Review was presented to Parliament in July last year.) The Minister said that she was "concerned" that the review had not yet been approved by the legislature and noted that this was causing a delay in some programmes.