Naval base likely to reopen

THE GROWING piracy problem in the Indian Ocean has forced the government to consider reopening the SA naval base on Durban’s Salisbury Island and moving its anti-piracy operations from Simon’s Town to the city.

Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said her department had developed the SA Maritime Strategy, which had been adopted by the cabinet last year.

The strategy was discussed and adopted by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit held in Angola in June, and was now being piloted by SA, Tanzania and Mozambique.

In addition, the SANDF hosted the SADC standing maritime committee meeting in Durban last week, aimed at promoting peace and prosperity through maritime military co-operation among SADC member states.

The summit looked at how SA would implement the strategy, Sisulu told a parliamentary briefing yesterday.

“It was in that context that the conference proposed that perhaps we should move our operations to Salisbury Island.

“The earlier decision we had taken was that we were going to reopen our base in Durban.”

As part of a cost-cutting exercise, the Durban base had been reduced in status to a naval station in 2001, and all strike craft had been moved to Simon’s Town.

“That was before we became involved in operations that were intended to deter piracy,” she said.

“The main problem is in the Indian Ocean and it will not make sense to be operating from Simon’s Town to try to deter piracy in the Indian Ocean.”

Only one of SA’S frigates (SAS Isandlwana) was currently deployed against piracy, because “we do intend to start small because it’s going to be a very costly and huge exercise”.

Air support and ground troops were also being deployed, she said.

Piracy had caused losses of between $1 billion (R7.6bn) and $16bn a year internationally. There had been 17 acts of piracy in Tanzanian waters in the past year alone, said Sisulu. The recent discovery of oil in some SADC countries had also made them more insecure.

“They need our assistance to make sure we can protect that oil. This problem has begun to encroach on our waters,” she said, adding that about 91 percent of trade between African states was seaborne.

However, the anti-piracy fight was hamstrung by insufficient funding for her department.

They were set on requesting 2 percent of GDP for the defence budget “as a basic minimum”.

“Our responsibilities are far greater than the amount of money that has been given to us.

“We have deployed around the coast and the borders and we are just not making it,” she said.

Sisulu said the department had yet to assess the cost of upgrading Salisbury Island to a naval base.

“We will have to find the money somewhere.

“Not much money has ever been given to defence, and we are the first place from which money is looted to be given to more deserving causes. We hope that as we put across the plight of our resources, we will get a more sympathetic response from those people who ultimately allocate the budget,” she said.

She warned that SA risked losing business if piracy was not tackled.

“We stand to lose a great deal of trade from people who would ordinarily be docking (at) our shores and providing work as we repair their ships and provide them with fuel and fresh resources.

“If they start looking for a route other than ours, we might as well close down our docks.”

The department also hoped to set up an inter-ministerial committee involving departments with an interest in free maritime trade to see whether it would be possible to pool resources to support the country’s maritime strategy.