WORLDVIEW: SA’s sterilised Navy – timely reminder of broken Arms Deal promises

Today's contribution from my colleague Chris Bateman is a reminder that those who pay no attention to history are likely to repeat its mistakes..As former ANC MP Andrew Feinstein disclosed to his cost – he was shunned, demoted and eventually left the country in disgust – South Africa's Arms Procurement Deal was mainly a scheme by the political elite to plunder State resources..Chris uses the benefit of hindsight to emphasise this reality. He writes: "My wife's birthday and my life-long passion for fishing recently contributed to a timely ponder on how well we're using our arms-deal-bolstered Navy fleet to protect our coastline..___STEADY_PAYWALL___.I'll explain. The former is because we spent a wonderfully calm autumnal evening gazing out over Simon's Town harbour and False Bay from a B&B high up on the mountain last weekend. The latter is because I'm invested, from a very selfish and minute sports-angling perspective, in stopping the rape of our marine resources by foreign commercial trawlers..Why, I wondered, admiring the four silvery-sleek frigates and three dark-looking subs, is it that they're all idly berthed when commercial trawlers are daily depleting our marine resources? Some research revealed that in 2014/2015 the SA Navy in it's entirely spent 8,951 hours at sea against its target of 12,000 hours – due to, wait for it, the unavailability of vessels due to delayed maintenance cycles..The bribery involved just in the frigate and subs portion of the controversial R70 billion Arms Procurement Deal came to at least R21 million..Acquired between 2005 and 2007, the frigates are under-gunned for any effective on-shore troop deployment support. Rear Admiral Robert Higgs told the 'whitewash" Seriti Commission into the Arms Deal in August 2013 that regular conflict on the African continent was a 'clarion call to action,' for South Africa to help shape events..His answers to why so much money was spent on the navy fleet when health, housing, welfare and HIV/AIDS were obvious priorities were stock standard military-speak. The frigates are totally vulnerable to submarine attack, while two were cannibalised for parts to keep the other two semi-operational, with refits of just the SAS Mendi costing over R400 million..With less than one fortieth of the offset for the total Arms Deal met and none of the promised 65,000 jobs resulting, can we not at least get our working frigates out to sea? How else do sailors gain the requisite skills? If we can't support land-based troops with the fast and sleek frigates, how about at least patrolling some of SA's 1.5 million square miles of territorial waters plundered by foreign trawlers?.The Fisheries Department has less than a handful of tiny vessels and relies on the Navy for fast interception and arrest. One minor comfort; Denel and ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems are due to begin frigate upgrades this and next year to increase their service to beyond 2035 – and upgrade combat efficiency.".Then again, with the weekend's disclosures on the Gupta stranglehold over Denel, you have to wonder even about that. Mre disturbing, the Arms Deal numbers are chump change compared with the heist planned in the proposed Nuclear Build deal.

WORLDVIEW: SA’s sterilised Navy – timely reminder of broken Arms Deal promises

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