Dept fails to award marine patrol contract, oceans left unprotected

Pieter van Dalen lays the blame on the failure of the fisheries department to award a contract to maintain state-owned marine patrol vessels. Media reports suggest that the current contractor, Smit Amandla, is in the process of scaling down their operations as their contract with the department expires at the end of March.

"Our coastlines simply cannot go unpatrolled given the immense potential for illegal activity and abuse of marine resources," van Dalen said.

"Minister Joemat-Pettersson needs to take responsibility for this crisis," van Dalen says. In November 2011 Joemat-Pettersson awarded an R800 million tender to politically-connected Sekunjalo Consortium to take over patrolling operations on South Africa's coastlines. The current contractor, Smit Amandla, challenged this successfully in court - and the contract has subsequently been withdrawn. Minister Joemat-Pettersson has discussed the possibility of using the South African Navy to patrol the country's coastline following the end of the current contract with Smit Amandla Marine. The Cape Times reported that director-general of the department of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, Langa Zita, is taking the matter further with Navy chief Vice Admiral Refiloe Mudimu.

Agriculture department spokesperson Selby Bokaba said that patrol operations would continue from 1 April 2012 and that there "will not be any vacuum". Bokaba added that the vessels will not be manned by Smit Amandla. According to defenceWeb, the Public Protector and the Competition Commission will investigate how Sekunjalo won the contract in November 2011.

Read the full article on www.defenceweb.co.za.