The Democratic Alliance will call for a full investigation into Armscor’s handling of the R500 million Personnel Carrier tender, demand access to all evaluation and testing records, and press for procurement reform to ensure transparent, technically sound, and accountable defence acquisitions going forward.
South Africans have reason to be alarmed: Armscor’s R500 million tender for new troop carriers appears plagued by the same lack of accountability and transparency that doomed past defence projects.
It has become clear that the evaluation process was compromised when field trials, required to verify vehicle performance, were cancelled without explanation. Several local defence companies, including Paramount, SVI and DCD Protected Mobility, had already deployed their vehicles for testing when the process was abruptly halted. The eventual winner, Milkor SA, did not participate in the trials and has only limited experience in armoured-vehicle production. Aside from a small sale of five vehicles to Namibia, the company has no operational record.
It is even more concerning that Milkor’s vehicle has not undergone comparative landmine-blast testing — a basic requirement for mine-resistant troop carriers. Without such tests, there is no evidence that the vehicles meet the protection standards needed to keep SANDF members safe during deployment. Despite this, Armscor has approved the project and awarded Milkor a contract worth half a billion rand.
This situation mirrors the R7 billion Project Hoefyster fiasco, where not a single Badger infantry fighting vehicle was delivered after nearly two decades of broken promises and ballooning costs. The same acquisition authorities, Armscor and the Department of Defence, oversaw that project. The warning signs are flashing again: untested products, shifting evaluation rules, and a lack of accountability. South Africa cannot afford another costly procurement failure while soldiers patrol our extensive borders, often on foot or in bakkies, due to the lack of suitable vehicles.
Public funds, soldier safety, and the integrity of our defence industry are at stake.