South Africa's armed forces are spending billions fighting insurgents on the continent, while back home, its soldiers are sitting at penniless military installations.
This week, nearly 3 000 South African soldiers are heading to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to fight terror groups, which will cost the taxpayers around R2 billion.
At the same time, a parliamentary inquiry found that one of the country's main naval dockyards has a meagre R20 million for maintenance; its annual budget is R280 million.