Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula
A decision taken more than a decade ago to close Durban’s naval facilities was a mistake, South Africa’s Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said on Tuesday.
Mapisa-Nqakula made the comments at a sod-turning ceremony held at the Salisbury Island Naval Station to mark the beginning of the process to upgrade the facility into a fully functional naval base.
“It is in fact a process to reverse what occurred in the past, when there was a decision to downscale and eventually close what was once a budding naval facility and move all facilities to Simons Town just over a decade ago. We are now wiser.”
She said that boosting the country’s naval presence on its eastern seaboard was necessary to improve security.
She said that since the government’s decision to deploy vessels to work with Tanzania and Mozambique there had been a visible decline in piracy along Africa’s eastern coast.
Mapisa-Nqakula did not say what the upgrading of the Salisbury Island facility would entail or cost.
Chief of the Navy, Vice Admiral Mosuwa Hlongwane also declined to say how much the upgrade to the facilities would cost, but did say that strike craft would be based at the facility.
He said the upgrading of the base would initially entail staff being moved from Simon’s Town, but that ultimately the navy would have to increase the number of personnel in its employ.
Several buildings on the base had no windows and were in dire need of a coat of paint. The roofs of some buildings had caved in.