Mungo Soggot
PARLIAMENTARY defence committee head Tony Yengeni this week slammed the Department of Defence for keeping the committee in the dark about the controversial plan to buy four corvettes for South Africa’s navy.
Yengeni’s criticism follows comments by Defence Minister Joe Modise last week that he might leapfrog a tender process for the boats and award the contract to Britain, which is offering a sweetener of cut-price submarines. None of the other interested bidders for the contract appear to have been officially invited to suggest a similar package.
A spokesman for the German consortium bidding to supply the corvettes said there had been no invitation to make a package offer, while a spokesman from the French embassy said they would be interested in doing so. Spain’s military attache could not be reached.
The original 1995 tender for the vessels was scrapped after a political storm about whether South Africa really needed them. The Cabinet has yet to approve the acquisition but is widely expected to do so on the recommendation of the defence review committee next month.
Modise was reported saying he was confident Cabinet would give the go-ahead and that a tender process could be avoided as some countries had offered package deals that were too good to miss.
Yengeni confirmed that during a committee meeting he had expressed disappointment that the committee had read about package deals in the press. “We have never been briefed about these deals. The department should volunteer information to us.”
Asked about Modise’s suggestion that a tender process be dodged, Yengeni said: “I am not able to express an opinion on that. I don’t know the reason for the minister’s standpoint. From the parliamentary point of view we want to ensure that all the rules and the tendering process are observed and respected so that whatever comes out, whatever decision comes out can be accepted by everyone … The decision should be above-board and beyond reproach.”
The fact that the British offer is completely different to that of the French, German and Spanish bidders – who are only offering ships – entitles Modise to abandon a tender process. However if the other bidders had been officially invited to make similar offers, the ministry would be obliged to recommend a tender process.