That all is not well in the maritime service of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) was acknowledged by the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) Select Committee on Security and Justice (SCSJ) in the wake of an oversight visit to SA Navy (SAN) fleet headquarters in Simon’s Town.
The visit was the first undertaken by the SCSJ since the seventh South African administration in the form of a government of national unity (GNU) came to being following the May national and provincial election.
SCSJ chair Jane Mananiso, an African National Congress (ANC) public representative, said ahead of the visit the committee wanted to familiarise itself with SAN services and operations as well as “engage” on the 2023/24 annual performance report and 2024/25 performance indicators.
“We are a new committee. We wanted to hear first-hand the challenges that they have and how we can assist from our side,” according to a Parliamentary Communication Services statement. Post the visit it quotes her saying “we have seen the picture and it shows the capabilities”.
The visit saw the SCSJ briefed, given a guided tour of Naval Base (NB) Simon’s Town, boarding the SAS Drakensberg (A301), seeing the dry dock and a maintenance workshop.
Elaborating on the workshop stop the statement has Mananiso saying: “This is one of the spaces where it really shows you must find a way to deal with procurement matters. It was also highlighted to us that the new Bill in terms of procurement assists them to find a better way of dealing with procurement”. It appears she was referring to the Public Procurement Act (PPA) signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa ahead of the May elections with implementation expected during the course of next year.
On the ever-present Sword of Damocles hanging over Angie Motshekga’s defence and military veterans’ ministries, the SCSJ chair is quoted as saying: “The committee will forever advocate for more budget. We have emphasised, too, that they need to better prioritise. They have committed to meet the targets where they underachieved. We are committed to work with them”.
It appears the NCOP committee will be more active defence-wise than its predecessors with Mananiso on record as asking for “a detailed report on procurement and supply chain matters so we can ascertain if everything is above board or if consequence management should be meted out”.
“We are moving in the right direction, irrespective of the challenges,” was her summary of the Simon’s Town oversight call.
