The Defence Ministry says it plans to use the money it saved from the canned multibillion rand Airbus deal to improve soldiers' working conditions.

Earlier this year, soldiers clashed with police during a protest march at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

They were demonstrating over poor wages and working conditions.

Last week, cabinet decided to scrap the controversial Airbus deal because of the high costs.

The ministry's Ndivhuwo Mabaya said some of the money would be used to address the soldiers' grievances.

"That money is going to come back to the defence force and we are going to use it to improve the conditions of service within the defence force," said Mabaya.