While Schabir Shaik sits in the High Court dock, one of the links that got him there is in the dock at Durban harbour's N-shed.

She is the SAS Mendi and her mission is to patrol and defend South Africa's coastline.

This MEKO A-200 Patrol Corvette is the country's fourth and came to South Africa in September from Germany, where she was made.

One of the corruption allegations in the state's case against Shaik was that he had been involved in soliciting a R1 million bribe for Deputy President Jacob Zuma from a French arms company called Thint, in which Shaik's company, Nkobi Holdings, had shares.

Shaik was also linked to African Defence Systems (ADS), the company that got a R1.3 billion sub-contract in the controversial arms deal. One of that company's obligations was to provide some of the hi-tech components for the corvettes.

Shaik also faces the allegation that he bribed Zuma to protect him (Shaik) during the arms deal investigations.

Addressing the media out at sea on board the SAS Mendi this week, Rear-Admiral Mosoeu Magalefu, director: naval review co-ordination of implementation, said he was not interested in how the ship was built, only that it was.

"Often when we talk about our ships, people think corruption. We are not interested in what ADS or Shaik did; we are concerned that they met our specifications. We are more interested in the capabilities of the ship," he said.

Magalefu said the navy had told the government that its fleet was ageing and it gave specifications for what it wanted.

"We say the government made a good decision. If you love South Africa and want to defend her, pray that we get more such ships."

The corvettes, the navy's new fleet, are much more technically advanced than their predecessors, the strikecrafts. For a start, each vessel has been built to house a helicopter.

The patrol corvettes will boast eight Exocet surface-to-surface missiles; 16 Umkhonto VLS surface-to-air missiles; a 76mm main gun; a 35mm dual purpose gun; and two MRL decoy rockets. Denel, the country's arms manufacturer that made headlines this week, would supply the surface-to-air missiles and the dual purpose guns. It reported a R377.5 million net loss for the year ending March 2004.

The corvettes were fitted with hi-tech sensors and command, control and communication equipment. The compartments were also divided and sealed off from each other to ensure protection in cases of biological and chemical warfare.

Following the South African National Defence Force's one-force concept, the navy is based in Simon's Town. Durban's naval capacity was downsized to a station.

SAS Mendi's navigator, Lt Ravesh Harrisawak, said in the event of an attack, the corvette's top speed was 30 knots and it would reach Durban from Simon's Town in 25 hours.

The South African government came under attack from its critics about the arms deal, not least from Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille, who is scheduled to appear in the Durban High Court later this month as a state witness in the Shaik trial.

De Lille said the cost of the new fleet to the country was too expensive. Her concern was that the financial offsets to the arms deal that were promised at the time were yet to materialise.

"This shows that planning was not done effectively. We will remain in debt for the next 50 years because of this arms deal. We need to cut our cloth according to our size," she said.

The Democratic Alliance's spokesman for defence, Rafeek Shah, echoed De Lille's concerns. He said the DA questioned the appropriateness of the type of weaponry that was commissioned.

With acknowledgements to Nadene Parsons and the Sunday Tribune.