Minister Motshekga proposes early retirement for older govt officials

Motshekga

Cape Town — Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Angie Motshekga, encouraged government officials to consider early retirement to cut costs, despite Motshekga being 69 years old.

Motshekga made this revelation during a report on her department’s financial standing in Parliament where she said that defunding her department would have a negative impact and has placed it in a tough situation, IOL reported.

She said the department has now looked at measures to compensate for the lack of funding, instead of complaining and spending unnecessarily.

“There are measures the government has put in place in terms of early retirement to make sure that we can release older staff, who are highly paid, and introduce a rejuvenating programme to be able to create space. It has worked in education,” she said.

She suggested that younger blood would revitalise the department and said the underfunding has not just impacted Human Resources (HR) but also areas including equipment servicing.

According to BusinessLIVE, Motshekga said early retirement was among the measures considered as it meant older staff, who are paid more, can now be released and create space for a more rejuvenated and younger workspace.

She said her department was in talks with the National Treasury over the financial; shortfall. The Department received R55 billion for the 2024/2025 financial year.

Motshekga also revealed that the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) was more than capable of defending the country.
“I have no doubt that while we may not have everything we need, we have enough capabilities to defend ourselves. The money that I always say we run short of, is not even to go fight outside, there’s not even one mission that I got a report on that we did not have the resources we needed. Where we need it, is here at home.”

Lt-Gen Michael Ramantswana, the SANDF chief of staff, also expressed confidence in the country’s defence capabilities, but members of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) were less optimistic.

Other committee members also expressed doubts and criticised the deployment strategies, questioning whether officials had fully grasped the scale of the military’s challenges.

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Compiled by Matthew Petersen

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