WHY SOUTH AFRICA’S ARMY IS FLOUNDERING IN CONGO

The Mubambiro base near the eastern Congolese town of Sake has become a death trap for the 2,400 South African troops stationed there. Hemmed in by mountains crawling with rebels of the M23, the South Africans are regularly shelled by precision-guided mortars. With no air defence or ability to warn of incoming artillery fire, casualties have mounted: seven soldiers have been killed and 33 wounded this year. The base is short of medicine, food and ammunition. Morale is dismal

The South Africans, along with troops from Malawi and Tanzania, are part of a 5,000-strong force sent by the Southern African Development Community, a 16-country regional bloc, to help restore security to eastern Congo. They are struggling because the rebels know the terrain far better—and have better kit. They have funnelled surface-to-air missiles, rocket-propelled grenades and GPS-jamming devices to the M23.

The South African army was once considered among the best in Africa. During the apartheid years, it invaded and destabilised its neighbours. After the election of Nelson Mandela in 1994 South Africa began exporting stability, sending peacekeepers to places like Burundi to provide muscle to its growing diplomatic heft. No longer. It has been shown up by its failure to defeat the m23. Budget shortfalls and overstretch have taken their toll, threatening South Africa’s ability to project power and influence across the continent.

Start with funding. Budget cuts, corner-cutting and corruption have hollowed out the forces. South Africa now spends a paltry 0.7% of GDP on defence, less than most of its neighbours (see chart). Pruning the defence budget after apartheid seemed to make sense. The ruling African National Congress (ANC) sought to spend more on social services, health care and education and was loth to beef up an army it had spent decades fighting against.

But now the defence force struggles to maintain equipment. Last year 85% of the air force’s planes were grounded. None of the navy’s three submarines is seaworthy, and only one of four frigates is operational. Looking after the army’s armoured vehicles has been outsourced to Cubans, who do a shoddy job, says Helmoed-Römer Heitman, a South African defence expert.

In Congo the results have been dire. The South Africans have been unable to deploy any of their badly needed Rooivalk attack helicopters because most have not been properly maintained. Without helicopter transport, troops must often travel by road, where they get ambushed. A single clapped-out C-130 cargo plane brings in a trickle of resupplies. The government has to spend a fortune chartering other transport aircraft. Some soldiers ask their families to post them socks and shirts.

Despite ambitious defence reviews in 1998 and 2015, South Africa’s National Defence Force (SANDF) is an “analogue, low-tech” outfit, says Thomas Mandrup of Stellenbosch University. It lacks drones, electronic-warfare kit and digital command-and-control systems. Its last big procurement, in 1999, was mired in corruption. Even ammunition is in short supply as local manufacturers give priority to exports.

Nearly two-thirds of spending goes on salaries and pensions. The army’s upper ranks are bloated with some 400 overpaid generals, many of them loth to retire, blocking promotion for soldiers in their 30s; the average age is 45, compared with 29 in America. Recruitment has slowed. Manoeuvres have been cut back. “We are in a dire, dire situation,” admits Kobus Marais, a former shadow defence minister.

Big demands are nevertheless being placed on the underfunded force. Besides the Congo mission, around 1,500 troops have been sent to rebel-hit Mozambique. And they are often deployed for civil tasks at home, such as preventing illegal mining or guarding power stations from sabotage. Thousands patrol the country’s porous borders and combat rioters and gangs.

There are still pockets of excellence and units with an esprit de corps. “They’re doing the best with what they’ve got,” says Mr Mandrup. “The special-forces units are still extremely good.” The Democratic Alliance, previously in opposition but now in the ruling coalition, wants to rejig the SANDF into a nimbler, high-tech force. It has called for another defence review and for withdrawal from Congo. But many suspect Cyril Ramaphosa, the president, is afraid of looking weak by pulling out.

“We have a government that still believes in South Africa as a regional leader, but they don’t pay for the baseball bat to go with it,” says Mr Heitman. South Africa has long postured as a policeman but its army is too ropy to do the job. As conflicts spread across Africa, other armed forces are filling the vacuum. Rwanda has supplanted South Africa in battling jihadists in neighbouring Mozambique.

Angie Motshekga, the new minister of defence, recently said “the role of the [armed forces] has never been more important than it is right now, both here at home and on the continent.” Then, with troops floundering in Congo, she cut (after inflation) the defence budget.