Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

The newly appointed Chief of the South African Navy says part of his vision is to ensure a professional navy, set with new standards in line with technological advancement.

Vice Admiral Refilo Mudimo said he would also ensure that people in the navy were empowered with knowledge and expertise.

Addressing media in Tshwane this morning, he said in order to enhance security on the African continent; the navy ought to be set in line with technological advancements.

"It must become involved in operations within the region to root out illegal activities at sea including weapon and drug trafficking, piracy, smuggling and illegal poaching of resources," said Admiral Mudimu, who succeeded Johan Frans Retief in March.

"The SA Navy cannot do this in isolation and it is therefore imperative that we engage other navies on the African continent more vigorously to tackle these important issues together.

"To ensure that competence and capability of the human resource component is achieved, strong emphasis is placed on dedicated mentoring and education, training and development that will focus specifically on mission requirements in Africa," he added.

Hinting on the acquisition of corvettes, the Vice Admiral said much had happened and that there was tremendous progress.

The SAS Amatola was fully fitted out and has completed the first sea acceptance trials and was busy with second trials. SAS Isandlwana as well as SAS Mendi were expected to commence with the second trial in October.

Last week, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) launched the country's second of three Type 209 submarines, the S102 in Emden, Northern Germany.

Another submarine, S101 was launched in Kiel, Germany a year ago.

The submarines form part of government's R43 billion arms procurement deal.

Launching the submarine, Defence Deputy Minister Mluleki George said all the submarines would be making their delivery voyages under own power with SA Navy personnel on board escorted by one of SA Navy's surface vessels.

Currently, about twenty officers are receiving submarine combat and engineering training in India and are expected to graduate in February 2006.

The S102 submarine is expected in South Africa early in 2007 and the S103 a year later.