For those asking why the SANDF's COVID-19 response was estimated to cost R4.5b, this is the breakdown of costs as reported to Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Defence. But the allocation actually received from Treasury is insufficient, causing a R1.5 billion shortfall. 1/

The amount was to be covered through a re-allocation from within the DoD of R1.136b, taken mostly from training & other discretionary budgets, with the rest meant to be provided by National Treasury in the emergency supplemental budget. The SANDF is now in a tricky spot. 2/

In essence, there is no capacity within the SANDF budget to re-allocate the additional R1.5b internally, as most remaining budget items are fixed expenses like facilities, salaries, and so on, so the only other option is to downscale the SANDF's COVID-19 response. 3/

That means the SANDF will provide fewer field hospitals, quarantine facilities, cargo flights, etc and buy both fewer test kits & less PPE. As we head into uncharted territory with our epidemic, with cases continuing to see exponential growth, this may have dire consequences. 4/4

Here's the breakdown by item type showing what was estimated, what was allocated, and what has actually been spent up till now.