Five years after the Department of Defence and Military Veterans spent R27.8 million on 90 road repair machines, not a single pothole has been patched and not a single military veteran has received employment. The heavy compaction equipment remains parked in state storage facilities, legally classified as physical evidence in an ongoing corruption investigation by the Special Investigating Unit.
Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Angie Motshekga confirmed the paralysis in a written reply to parliamentary questions submitted by lawmakers. Motshekga stated that any move to deploy the equipment or seek early release from investigators is premature, while the date for operational status is not determinable. The disclosure cements one of the starkest examples of public procurement waste inside the security cluster.
The department spent exactly R27,795,842.48 in 2021 to acquire the 90 road roller compactor units. The project was conceived as a dual purpose initiative to repair damaged municipal road networks and establish technical maintenance jobs for unemployed military veterans. However, ministerial disclosures revealed that the department procured the fleet without an approved project implementation plan, without an operational training budget, and without formal intergovernmental agreements with municipal roads departments.
An internal physical asset verification conducted in May 2026 confirmed that all 90 machines remain intact in storage. Yet because the procurement process was referred to the Special Investigating Unit under Proclamation R23 of 2020 for suspected supply chain fraud, the machines cannot be transferred, operated, or auctioned without written authorization from law enforcement investigators.
Under Section 1 of the Public Finance Management Act 1 of 1999, fruitless and wasteful expenditure is defined as expenditure made in vain that would have been avoided had reasonable care been exercised.
When capital assets are purchased without operational budgets or regulatory frameworks, public funds are locked in depreciating equipment. Furthermore, under the Special Investigating Units and Special Tribunals Act 74 of 1996, assets identified as evidence in criminal or civil recovery proceedings remain legally frozen until the tribunal issues a final order or investigators grant formal release.
Until the investigation concludes, the state cannot recover lost funds, while the machines lose commercial value through mechanical stagnation and technical obsolescence.
Motorists and commuters continue to navigate cratered roads across municipalities while multi-million rand road maintenance machinery sits idle behind locked military gates.
Military veterans and their families lose promised economic opportunities, technical trade accreditations, and stable employment in community infrastructure projects.
Taxpayers carry the double cost of historical procurement waste and ongoing secure warehousing fees for equipment that delivers zero public benefit.
* When will the Special Investigating Unit finalize its procurement findings and refer implicated departmental officials for criminal prosecution?
* Will the National Treasury and Department of Defence authorize the transfer of the 90 machines to provincial road agencies once evidence protocols are satisfied?
* Who inside the 2021 defence procurement committee signed off on an R27.8 million capital purchase without a project plan or operational training budget?