Publication: Cape Argus Issued: Date: 2009-06-08 Reporter: Francis Hweshe Reporter: Henri du Plessis

Navy chief 'snubs' Zuma

 

Publication 

Cape Argus
Date

2009-06-08
Reporter Francis Hweshe, Henri du Plessis

Web Link

www.capeargus.co.za


Union claims boss won't pay allegiance to president

A defence force union has called for the Chief of the SA Navy to be dismissed after claims that he is refusing to pay allegiance to President Jacob Zuma.

The SA Security Forces Union (Sasfu) demanded yesterday that Vice-Admiral Johannes Refiloe Mudimu be sacked.

It claimed that Midumu had told a number of navy staff, some of whom are Sasfu members, that he felt Zuma "is not educated" and that he would not pay allegiance to the president as a result.

The union also claimed that members of the navy had lost confidence in his leadership and that, on Midumu's watch, levels of discipline had "dropped drastically".

The Zuma allegation came from union president Bhekinkosi Bantu Mvovo.

He said the news had spread throughout navy circles. He is urging Zuma to take "decisive action" on the issue.

But a defence analyst has slammed the notion, pointing out that Mudimu was never considered politically partisan and that these problems could be laid at the door of the Department of Defence and the cabinet itself.

The Department of Defence said today it wanted to study the issues first before commenting.

Mudimu was neither seen as a supporter of former president Thabo Mbeki, nor as a Zuma supporter, said Helmoed Romer-Heitman, South African correspondent of the international military journal Jane's Defence Weekly.

Although his appointment was political, Mudimu was an independent thinker who acted in the best interests of his force, Heitman said.

But, Mvovo countered that it was a serious matter, claiming that Mudimu had "lost vision and direction for the SA Navy".

"The navy is in disarray. We have the submarines but no crew to run or service them." *1

Other admirals, Mvovo said, had been charged for various offences, including fraud. *2

He also said engineers and staff were leaving the navy in droves for the private sector. *3

The union, which says it has a membership of 20 000, threatened that military doctors and nurses could join their "counterparts in industrial action in demand of the payment of OSD (occupational specific dispensation) and improved salaries".

While the members were not allowed to strike, they would do so if negotiations with the government, through Cosatu, failed.

The union also took a swipe at the SA Air Force, claiming it was rife with racism. *4

"Brilliant black students are being told that they cannot fly *5," Mvovo said, claiming that "whites from the apartheid era are still calling the shots".

Asked whether he had evidence of such racism, he said it was documented.

Calling for a fresh start on transformation in the air force, Mvovo called on the new minister, Lindiwe Sisulu, to intervene immediately "as black student pilots can no longer endure discrimination".

Heitman said he was "absolutely convinced" Mvovo was "talking nonsense" *6.

"I knew Mudimu as a student and then as number three, number two and number one in the navy and he has never been known to make political comments or negative comments about the political leadership to anyone *7," Heitman said.

"While he supported Mbeki's policies regarding Africa, he, for example, did not support the policy of 'Africanising' through appointments. He always appointed senior staff by merit, when he was not overruled.

"The fact that the navy is critically, or even catastrophically, short of technical staff and combat staff can be laid squarely at the door of the politicians. Mudimu does not have control of his own purse strings or employment policies."

Heitman said it was a well-known fact that the SAAF had severe problems attracting suitable candidates for pilot training.

The Department of Defence said it would discuss the union's claim with Mudimu first, before making a statement.

Mudimu could not be reached for comment.

With acknowledgements to Cape Argus.


*1       This is true.


*2      This is true.


*3      This is true.


*4      This is not true.


*5      Just because black students are brilliant, doesn't mean that they can fly.


*6      Regarding the SAAF Mvovo is talking nonsense; regarding the SAN Mvovo is not talking nonsense, other than in respect of the Chief of the SAN where Mvovo is talking nonsense.


*7      Since VAdm Mudimu took over from VAdm Retief he has had his hands full just trying to keep the SAN more-or-less in one piece on a stoestring budget.

VAdm Mudimu certainly doesn't say anything controversial because otherwise he would both not have made it to the top post without having the relevant naval experience and he would have got kicked out had he done so.

Indeed VAdm Mudimu seldom says much for public consumption of much substance at all.

But the SA Navy sure is in a mess.

But that is not VAdm Mudimu's fault. It is also not VAdm Retief's fault. Retief's previous job was Inspector-General of the SANDF, not a SA Navy post, but an SANDF post.

At the beginning of the Arms Deal investigation VAdm Retief commissioned certain investigations into the SANDF, not directly Arms Deal related, but into things like the whereabouts of SANDF weapons, missing firearms, usage of funds, etc. His final conclusion was "the SANDF is not auditable" (in these respects and because of lack of records).

The rot in the SA Navy started with VAdm Robert Claude Simpson-Anderson and RAdm Andrew "Chubby" Howell, who were so intent on getting the best, most sophisticated and most expensive German frigates and coastal submarines, despite the best advice to the contrary (especially regarding the latter), that they blew the SAN's operating and support budget for the next 20 years.

Me thinks and I put this on record, that the SA Navy acquired the most expensive part of the corvettes (actually frigates), i.e. the Exocet MM40 anti-ship missile, using some kind of delayed payment scheme and not out of the Special Defence Account as should have been done.

This scheme probably is that only the missile launch systems and one missile round were actually paid for about of the Project Sitron project funds derived from the Special Defence Account and that the rest of the missile rounds (ostensibly 16 in total initially, with more to come later to make up the actual requirement of 32) were acquired on a leasing system, probably with some kind of yearly payment out of the SA Navy running budget and payment as certain missiles are fired in order to qualify each of the frigates combat systems and during yearly naval exercises.

As these Exocet MM40 missiles cost about R20 million each, the SA Navy's running budget get consumed very rapidly indeed.

The SA Navy was meant to acquire 17 Exocet MM40 Block 2 missiles as part of Project Sitron.

Yet, read this excerpt from an SA Navy report on its 2007 Project Whippet:
"The SAS SPIOENKOP, with SAS MENDI stationed to port, fired her missile to starboard whilst SAS MENDI fired her missile to port.
The two Exocet MM40 block 1 missiles left their launchers to arrive at the target within seconds of each other."
 

So it certainly would prove that the SA Navy did not indeed acquire only Block 2 missiles, but also Block 1s.

But a little later the DoD admitted that it purchased 6 Exocet Block 1 missiles and 11 Exocet Block 2 missiles.

So there were a lot of lies from the Project Direct, et al, that the missile purchase was regular.

This aspect requires a forensic audit because it will go a long way in answering the questions why the SA Navy is in such disarray.

And the reason why the DoD had to lie about the acquisition about these missiles is that when it decided that Thomson-CSF had to provide the combat suite, it made the price so high that the only way it could be made affordable was to extract the cost of the missiles rounds from the project budget.

The SAN is suffering since.

Tell me it ain't so.