South African Navy

South Africa has one of the strongest navies in Africa: its strengths and weaknesses

Retrieved on: 
Friday, September 29, 2023

The deaths of three members of the South African Navy (SA Navy) on 20 September 2023, when a freak wave swept them off the deck of the submarine SAS Manthatisi, has put the spotlight on the organisation and its work. André Wessels is a military historian; his latest book is A Century of South African Naval History: The South African Navy and its Predecessors 1922-2022. The Conversation Africa asked him for insights.How big is South Africa’s navy? How does it compare? The South African Navy has always been one of the strongest naval forces in sub-Saharan Africa.

Key Points: 


The deaths of three members of the South African Navy (SA Navy) on 20 September 2023, when a freak wave swept them off the deck of the submarine SAS Manthatisi, has put the spotlight on the organisation and its work. André Wessels is a military historian; his latest book is A Century of South African Naval History: The South African Navy and its Predecessors 1922-2022. The Conversation Africa asked him for insights.

How big is South Africa’s navy? How does it compare?

    • The South African Navy has always been one of the strongest naval forces in sub-Saharan Africa.
    • Egypt has the strongest navy in Africa, and Algeria is the second strongest as it has been steadily building up its naval forces.
    • Thanks to its submarine capabilities, the SA Navy can be regarded as one of the strongest on the continent.

Can it protect the country’s territorial waters?

    • And the navy can also do patrol work with its surface vessels (if they are able to go to sea).
    • But it has a limited anti-submarine warfare capability, and is not able to project much power across long distances.
    • South Africa is a maritime state, given that all its borders are on the ocean bar its northern one.

What’s its role?

    • Its core business is “to fight at sea”, with its official mission “to win at sea”.
    • The navy can also play a role in humanitarian relief operations, search-and-rescue operations and peace support operations.
    • In the course of its history, the SA Navy has performed these and many other tasks.
    • In addition, the navy has an important diplomatic role in sending warships (“grey diplomats”) on flag-showing visits to other countries.

What is the history of the SA Navy?

    • The navy can trace its history back to 1 April 1922, when the SA Naval Service was established.
    • This became the Seaward Defence Force in 1939 when the Second World War broke out, and the SA Naval Forces in 1942.
    • It played a small but important role in the Allied war effort against Nazi Germany, patrolling the South African coastal waters.
    • All cultural groups, as well as an increasing number of women, would henceforth be represented in the navy.

Did South Africa sell arms to Russia? Only a series of unlikely scenarios could have made it possible

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, May 16, 2023

On 11 May 2023 the US ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, claimed that South Africa had secretly exported arms to Russia in December 2022.

Key Points: 
  • On 11 May 2023 the US ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, claimed that South Africa had secretly exported arms to Russia in December 2022.
  • The announcement rapidly fed into a popular narrative that South Africa was increasingly siding with Russia in relation to Moscow’s aggressive war in Ukraine.
  • Brigety’s statements made both South African and international news headlines, including the Wall Street Journal, CNN and the Financial Times.
  • Furthermore, as demonstrated in the UN Register of Conventional Arms database, Russia has rarely imported South African arms.

Imports and exports

    • Indeed the Arms Control Committee’s 2019 arms import report lists the permit approval for the import of five million rounds of Russian ammunition to South Africa.
    • Over the years, even the US and the UK have imported arms from Russia according to the UN Register of Conventional Arms.
    • Reports at the time indicate that containers were offloaded in the harbour and then transported to secure locations under tight security.

US accusations of South African arms to Russia

    • Brigety claimed that the US government had intelligence reports indicating that prior to the Lady R departing from Simon’s Town, South African ammunition and possibly arms were loaded onto the vessel and then transported to Russia.
    • South Africa has one of the most comprehensive arms export laws in Africa, the cornerstones of which are transparency and human rights considerations.
    • Traditionally Russia could be considered a South African ally due to the BRICS arrangement.
    • However, reports of Russian perpetrated human rights abuses in Ukraine would most likely override other considerations in terms of South Africa’s arms export considerations.
    • All arms export applications by arms exporters are carefully considered by a scrutiny committee and, thereafter, by the National Conventional Arms Control Committee.
    • The annual arms export reports show that South Africa generally adheres to the Section 15 criteria.
    • If the Arms Control Committee had considered an application to export arms and or ammunition to Russia, then consensus among cabinet ministers would have been necessary.

The devil is in the intelligence reports

    • But such an endeavour would have required the payment of considerable bribes to officials on the docks and the manufacture of fraudulent export documentation.
    • The crux of the arms-to-Russia allegations relates to the content of the US intelligence reports.