South Africa is planning to spend R500m next year to stave off piracy
South Africa planned to spend R500m next year to stave off piracy in the Mozambican Channel, Lt-Gen Derrick Mgwebi, the defence force chief of joint operations, said yesterday.
As most of Africa’s trade is conducted by sea, there has been growing pressure in the region for a co-ordinated approach to limit the hijacking of vessels. President Jacob Zuma was yesterday expected to discuss the issue with his Mozambican counterpart, Armando Guebuza.
The London-based International Maritime Bureau estimates piracy costs world trade $16bn a year while the World Shipping Council said that by the middle of this year, 150 piracy attacks had taken place in the region, with 21 hijackings, 360 seafarers taken hostage, and seven seafarers killed by Somali pirates.
The operation is likely to force SA’s cash-strapped defence force to request more funding from the Treasury to carry out its operations beyond SA’s borders.
Defence and Military Veterans Minister Lindiwe Sisulu , who is accompanying Mr Zuma on his Mozambican state visit, has voiced her disappointment at the inadequate allocation by the Treasury.
In the current financial year, the defence force has received R38,4bn, which defence force officials say is insufficient to meet SA’s needs as a mediator of peace in conflict zones.
A lack of funding has also been blamed for the failure of the air wing to provide reliable and safe air transport for the president and deputy president.
The resignation of defence secretary Mpumi Mpofu last month was linked to the inability of the South African Air Force to provide reliable transport to the Presidency. On several occasions private jets were chartered for Mr Zuma and his deputy Kgalema Mo tlanthe for trips abroad, which has raised security concerns.
Lt-Gen Mgwebi said the navy and other defence force branches had to compete for limited resources to carry out their activities. “In terms of costs (to prevent piracy) you can roughly say we need something like R500m for next year.
“The competition for resources within SA – we are speaking of land, air and maritime facets of the border – those are the issues which we are grappling with based on the resources allocated as far as the budget is concerned because that speaks to money,” he said.
Costs associated with piracy were set to increase in the Horn of Africa as it was viewed as an economic activity in the region, Lisa Otto of the Pretoria-based Institute of Security Studies said. “Piracy now has an economy attached to it, which trickles funds throughout wider society. Working-level pirates can earn $10000 per take, equivalent to two-thirds of their anticipated lifetime earnings, while 20% of the ransom money goes to pirate bosses.”
Ms Sisulu said earlier this year that SA was forced to dispatch its navy vessel SAS Mendi to the Mozambican Channel to help deter piracy, at Maputo’s request.
SA has to date signed co-operation agreements to combat piracy with Tanzania, Kenya, the Comoros, Madagascar, Reunion, Mozambique and the Seychelles.
Source: Business Day
