Publication: Sunday Independent Issued: Date: 2005-09-18 Reporter: Christelle Terreblanche Reporter:

Plan for Fifth Corvette could be Floated Soon

 

Publication 

Sunday Independent
Date

2005-09-18

Reporter

Christelle Terreblanche

Web link

 

Lekota says another ship is required to protect Africa's coastline, even though the navy is struggling to operate the vessels it already has

South Africa may soon become home to a fifth brand-new naval corvette, even though the navy already faces an uphill battle with limited resources to keep its recently acquired fleet of four vessels fully operational.

The corvettes were acquired at a cost of R10 billion under South Africa's controversial arms acquisition deal. Naval sources say operating a fifth warship would seriously stretch the navy's already limited resources.

Mosiuoa Lekota, the defence minister, has confirmed that "elementary" discussions are under way on the need for "a multi-purpose" ship for African peace-keeping operations and to fight high-seas crime.

But in this case South Africa was unlikely to pay for or own the fifth vessel, even though it might be procured through the government's multibillion-rand arms deal contract, which made provision for a fifth corvette, he said.

Lekota said plans to deploy another modern warship stemmed from "a suggestion that Africa acquires a corvette" to protect its vast coastline.

Lekota said it was likely that such a ship would be donated, but he would not confirm that the money would come from the European Union, of which three member countries - Germany, Britain and France - were the main beneficiaries of South Africa's arms deal. He added that South Africa "had been approached" to house and operate the ship and that there was "some willingness to increase the capacity here to beef up peacekeeping.

"There is discussion on the acquisition of a fifth corvette. But this is not a South African ship. It is therefore an issue that South Africa cannot decide alone."

Lekota said the discussions involved not only the South African government, but also "other nations of Africa and the European Union".

Word of the possible acquisition leaked out when original arms deal bidders were recently asked to upgrade their tender proposals in terms of costs, as the projections in the original 1999 agreement were dated.

It could not be established whether this would constitute a new arms deal or whether the original contract was still valid.

The four German-built corvettes, commissioned by the navy last year, sparked most of the controversy over arms deal corruption, including the investigation that led to corruption charges against Jacob Zuma, the former deputy president, after the conviction of Schabir Shaik, his financial adviser, whose companies benefited from a corvette sub-contract. The corvettes cost R2,5 billion each.

Lekota said the initial idea was to acquire a corvette in terms of the "fifth ship" option in the arms deal, but current thinking was that "something more efficient, more multi-purpose" was needed, within the same price range.

It is understood it is a toss-up over whether a multi-purpose frigate *1 or an amphibian-type warship that can launch marines and equipment would be most suitable. The navy is said to prefer the amphibian option.

"It is largely for the security of marine resources, to fight piracy ... and drug trafficking on the high seas," Lekota said. The vessel would also be used for peace-keeping operations.

"The question is then where do you locate this because some African countries do not have capacity to house or operate it. So these are elementary discussions taking place."

At the Seapower in Africa Conference in Cape Town last month, strong pleas were made for more co-operation among African states and for boosting the continent's naval capacity.

Writing about the conference this week, Helmoed Romer-Heitman, defence analyst repeated the plea, saying the smaller boats were "simply not in any position to patrol their waters and therefore have no ability to control what goes on off their shores".

This included offshore gas, oil and diamond works and fish stocks along the nearly 20 000km coastline of Africa south of the Sahara, as well as millions of square kilometres of exclusive economic zones.

Opening the conference, attended by navy chiefs from across the continent, Ronnie Kasrils, the intelligence minister, promised that South Africa's navy "will be there to support the other navies of Africa; to complement your capabilities with our new patrol corvettes and submarines and to supplement your capabilities with larger and smaller ships when needed".

The suggestion that South Africa host and maintain another large ship comes amid disquiet over the defence force's annual deficit of R5 billion, which has called into question its military preparedness.

It has been strongly denied that South Africa's increasing peacekeeping obligations are sapping its military capability to defend itself. An internal defence force report has, however, warned that South Africa's contribution to the establishment of a joint peace brigade for the Southern African Development Community would have to be "carefully managed".

In addition, there are persistent claims that the navy does not have enough resources to run all four of its corvettes simultaneously.

With acknowledgements to Christelle Terreblanche and the Sunday Independent.


*1A patrol c  orvette is a frigate and a frigate is about (or meant to be) the most multi-purpose of all naval surface combatants. But it is nevertheless a combatant, a warship designed and with a matching price tag, for the conduct of maritime warfare.

There are many other vessel types better suited and less expensive to acquire and to operate, for coastguard roles such environmental protection, disaster relief, even anti-piracy.

The Simplified Theory of Maritime Posture and Operations

For coastguard/civil maritime operations one wants any or all of :
For coastguard/civil maritime operations one doesn't need to, inter alia, :
The bottom line is :
Then choose one's equipment, not forgetting that cost of ownership over the lifespan is between 10 and 20 times greater than the cost of acquisition.