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2023-08-10 at 16:55 #415730
Nat Quinn
KeymasterSouth African President and SA National Defence Force (SANDF) Commander-in-Chief, Cyril Ramaphosa, has yet to reveal which parts of the Mojapelo inquiry into the Lady R will be made public. At the same time, sources in Cabinetâs security cluster have it no arms and ammunition were taken aboard in Simonâs Town last December.
âIf this is indeed what happened, and I hope it is, itâs a relief,â is the response of South African defence observer and analyst, Darren Olivier. The African Defence Review (ADR) director, however, has five concerns, ânot least of all why did it take eight months to provide this informationâ.
He wants to know why Lady R disabled its transponder and âpursued a misleading doubling-back into Naval Base (NB) Simonâs Town in the dead of night?â
âFurther, who authorised this and what was the justification? Itâs not acceptable that it wasnât part of the inquiryâs mandate,â he maintains, asking why loading/unloading was done at night. This leads him to ask how it (cargo handling) differed from standard operating procedure (SOP) at the base, how were civilian logistics companies and crane operators appointed and what did use of them outside of regular working hours cost? Did SAN personnel work overtime?
On the use of the SAN harbour, Olivier asks why? âSouth Africaâs weapons and ammunition deliveries typically use the countryâs commercial ports which have sufficient security for it. Even Gripen fighter aircraft were delivered through the Port of Cape Town, not Simonâs Town.â
He also asks: âWhy be so secretive over the ammunition order contents for Special Forces?â saying that they operate weapons with Russian-made calibres is no secret âas many are exhibited in publicâ.
âEven if there are non-public weapons itâs unlikely more detail on the order would expose them,â is his summary of this aspect of the Lady R and her clandestine South African port call.
He further points out eight months to reach the conclusions, as published in at least one Sunday newspaper, is a stretch. Questions that need public answers include: What was the timeline of actions taken by Cabinet and the Department of Defence (DoD) throughout this process? The manifest showing what was loaded on wouldâve been available immediately and couldâve been verified within days. Why the secrecy and delay?
Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said the Lady R report has gone to Ramaphosa, who stated he would evaluate it and decide whether to make the report or parts of it public. Today (Thursday, 10 August) Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said the report is for the President and not the Cabinet.
source:More questions around Lady R in the wake of judicial inquiry – defenceWeb
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