Request 'shows arms deal flaws'

2008-08-28 20:05

Pretoria - The request by the SA Navy to buy more ships only served to highlight the "fatal flaws" of the arms deal, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Thursday.

"This is further proof that the entire arms deal procurement process was fatally flawed," said DA spokesperson for defence Rafeek Shah in a statement.

The Star newspaper reported on Thursday that the Navy wanted to spend billions of rands of taxpayers' money on acquiring new patrol ships.

According to the newspaper a staff paper commissioned on behalf of chief of the navy vice-admiral Johannes Mudimu from the SA National Defence Force's legal services stated that the navy "critically" required new ships.

Shah said that South Africans already had to fork out close to R20bn for corvettes and submarines acquired as part of the arms deal.

"These purchases have turned out to be very expensive white elephants," he said.

"The fact that the navy now believes that it needs a number of 85-metre multi-purpose patrol boats at a cost of R300m each to help protect our waters illustrates how inappropriate it was to buy the corvettes and submarines in the first place," said the party.

Sufficient resources

The DA said had less money been spent on the arms deal ships, more funds would have been left over to ensure that the Navy had "sufficient resources" to fulfil its mandate.

"Given the argument contained in the report, that the Navy is struggling to meet its obligations with its existing weaponry... the Navy must now once and for all abandon any thought it had of exercising its option to purchase a corvette," said Shah.

The party added that consideration to acquire new weaponry should only be given if the Navy can provide the assurance that there would be qualified personnel to operate them.

"... and that the purchase is carried out in an open and transparent fashion."

Shah said he would pose parliamentary questions to defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota including whether government was aware of the Navy's request.

By Thursday afternoon defence spokesperson Sam Mkhwanazi could not be reached for comment.

- SAPA