Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

The government’s multibillion-rand arms deal has crippled the South African Navy.

And, says one of the country’s leading arms deals experts, the Navy does not even have the money “to fully or properly operate or support” the costly frigates or submarines that have devastated its budget.

The Star yesterday revealed that the Navy wants to spend billions more of taxpayers’ money on patrol ships, primarily because the hugely expensive corvettes they bought to monitor the country’s seas are not ready or up for the job.

According to a June 2008 Defence Force Legal Services staff paper for Chief of the Navy Vice-Admiral Johannes Mudimu, the state’s controversial purchases – “which currently absorb most of the South African Navy’s financial resources” – have left the Navy incapable of:

nTracking the vessels that travel around the South African coast;

nConducting patrols aimed at protecting and defending “the maritime sovereignty of the Republic”;

nFulfilling its “collateral responsibilities” of “maritime safety, pollution response, search and rescue, protection of maritime resources and interdiction of maritime offenders”; and

nConducting patrols of South Africa’s resource and fossil fuel-rich Economic Exclusion Zone.

Trained advocate Captain DK Gillespie, whose mandated report the Defence Force has attempted to dismiss as an “academic study” created by a “student”, further states: “With the transformation of the South African National Defence Force, severe budget cuts (and) downsizing, the SA Navy has become a shadow of its original force structure, with a number of ‘gaps’ apparent in its capacity.”

Richard Young, the overlooked arms deal bidder who was awarded a R15-million settlement from the government after he sued it for damages, yesterday said it was “fact” that the Navy was unable to afford operating the frigates and submarines it had purchased.

Referring The Star to research that found that one frigate cost e720 000 (about R8,2-million) a day to operate, he said the Navy’s mooted purchase of eight to 12 new 85m-long multipurpose-hull patrol boats “would make economic sense”.

“These vessels cost between R250- to R300-million each, as opposed to the R4-billion cost of the frigates.

“The reality is that, if government had not forced the Navy to buy the frigates and submarines, it would have been able to purchase the patrol boats … which get the work done.”

Young added: “At least regarding the frigates, the SA Navy would have saved about a billion rand in 1999 rands, which would have gone a long way in operational and support costs,” he said.

The Star has established that, at the time that Defence Department spokesperson Sam Mkhwanazi claimed Gillespie had written the report, in 2003, he was a senior staff officer of operational law support at the SANDF.

It appears he was not studying at the time, as is being claimed.