Cost of war: BDF increases coffin, Moz budget
Mompati Tlhankane | Monday February 13, 2023 06:00
The war in Mozambique prompted the deployment of BDF troops to help Mozambique’s embattled army in 2021 and so far the war has cost Botswana close to half a billion.
Botswana joined other SADC countries in the mission which was supposed to last for six months but has since been extended to July 2023.
In the draft 2023/2024 estimates of expenditure from the consolidated and development funds released after the budget speech this week, the BDF increased aid to Mozambique (Special Expenditure) from 109 million in the 2022-23 financial year to P164, 6 million for the 2023-24, an increase of 51%. As of December 31, 2022 the BDF in Mozambique had spent P78, 3 million in the deployment.
The Mozambique special budget comes shortly after the Finance Ministry had tabled a P552.4 million supplementary budget to cover the costs of the military deployment among others two months ago in December 2022.
According to the then supplementary budget’s recurrent expenditure, an amount of P133.4 million went towards funding the deployment of the country’s soldiers, police and prisons’ officers in Mozambique. The funds cover spending items such as allowances, military material and equipment, food rations and medical expenses as well as uniforms and accessories.
When President Mokgweetsi Masisi sent BDF troops to fight a deadly insurgency in Mozambique in 2021, perhaps the army did not anticipate that the upheaval will come with the sustained conflict especially the financial cost.
The mission was supposed to last for just six months.
From the onset when the troops were deployed to the war zone in 2021, the then Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security (MDJS) requested additional funding of up to P204.5 million under the BDF to cover costs of deploying and sustaining troops in Mozambique. Botswana like all other SADC members in Mozambique contributes troops to the battle and also pays its own costs and enjoys assistance from the SADC Secretariat.
Now on the coffin budget, the BDF has increased the budget from the P750, 000 authorised expenditure in the 2022-23 financial year to P1, million draft estimates for the 2023-24 financial year, a 30.8% increase. Even though the army spent P457, 150 in the current financial year ending in March 2023, it has has requested for P334 000 in the latest draft estimates.
The money is a special expenditure and not specifically for the war but there are many factors among them the war which has seen Botswana lose soldiers since 2021. Last month, the BDF announced that one member of its Contingent deployed in the Cabo Delgado Province committed suicide bringing the Mozambique death toll to six since 2021.
This came a month after BDF revealed that Lance Corporal Zikamee Kamai was killed by Ahlu-Sunnah Wal-Jamaah (ASWJ) terrorists in the area of Nkonga village in Nangade district, Cabo Delgado Province in Mozambique in December 2022. It was Botswana’s first combat death. The incident came shortly after a shocking murder-suicide case in which a BDF soldier deployed in Mozambique shot and killed his female colleague, injured another, and turned the rifle on himself.
Before the unfortunate incident the BDF had only lost two soldiers in Mozambique with one having lost his life in February last year while the first casualty happened when a BDF soldier lost his life in an accident involving a motor vehicle in Pemba, Mozambique on August 3, 2021. In general, the conflict has led to the death of more than 4,500 people in Mozambique, while nearly a million have fled their homes. Besides deaths in Mozambique, of late, the BDF has been hit by so many social ills from suicides to homicides. Since the year 2022 to date, the BDF has recorded a total of 12 suicide cases and one homicide. BDF’s coffin budget increase comes at a time when Finance Minister Peggy Serame says ‘there are global inflation risks arising from prolonged geopolitical tensions which continue to cause further disruption of supply chains and potential increases in international commodity prices’.
Asked if the coffin budget increase has anything to do with the risk of war in Mozambique BDF’s Colonel Magosi Moshagane told Mmegi in an interview yesterday that the increase is rather in response to the general growth in prices (inflation). “Kindly note that the BDF budget increase for coffins in the coming financial year has got nothing to do with SAMIM operation or any other operation in the BDF. It is also important to note that the estimates were based on our previous year's expenditure. Additionally, the BDF is growing in strength therefore the estimates for the current financial year cannot be compared with the previous years,” Moshagane highlighted.