It was the biggest double-header Cape Town had seen in a while. There was the arrival of a famed yet hitherto unseen beauty. And there was what the organisers, only by modesty, were prevented from proclaiming as the biggest maritime event since the parting of the Red Sea.
Not since Diana, Princess of Wales, visited the city has Cape Town been so spellbound.
Though a few had seen this particular beauty, she had been the subject of drama and intrigue, some of it threatening the political careers and reputations of well-heeled individuals. She was the stuff of legend, some of it good and, if truth be told, some of it dubious.
Court papers have been filed arguing that she and her siblings — acquired in the same controversial deal — should be returned whence they came.
Named after a mountain range in the Eastern Cape, the SAS Amatola arrived as gracefully as a swan, though her name suggested the timeless- ness of the mountain rather than its ruggedness.
For many of the men, most of them dressed in white and sporting beards, the cloud hanging over her did not matter. It was clear from the reception she received that she would bring an end to complaints in the navy that morale had plummeted because they had to work with old, unsophisticated ladies.
The SAS Amatola is described as the most technologically advanced warship of her kind. Her figure is curvaceous for an African beauty. Her girth measures an appealing 16,3m and her length 121m. Her creators say she can carry up to 3 500 tonnes (including her own weight).
The SAS Amatola packs a kick as impressive as her pace. She boasts a highest speed of 31 knots (about 65kph) and can fire surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles.
Navy chief Vice-Admiral Johan Retief was on hand to receive her, and was quick to answer burning questions from the media people flown to Simon’s Town’s False Bay for the junket.
Questions included whether the navy had the skills to handle such vessels, how it was approaching the allegations of corruption relating to the controversial arms deal of which the SAS Amatola is a part, and whether the deal could still be cancelled.
The question of justifying the expensive acquisition of such a vessel was quickly answered. It was much like Al Capone’s theory of guns: better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.
”The main roles of the [South African National Defence Force],” he said, ”are defence against aggression, protection of the people and their interests and support of the international obligations of the [country].
”A basic principle of warfare is that one does not embark on a war if you determine that your enemy has the ability to inflict unacceptable losses on you. Investing in deterrence is expensive during the preparation phase, but if it is successful there will be no war.”
Britain had learned that lesson the hard way, Retief said. It neglected to bolster and display its military capabilities in the southern Atlantic, only for its contested property, the Falkland Islands, to be attacked by Argentina.
”After great cost, loss of equipment and British lives, the United Kingdom re-established its sovereignty over the Falklands. The cost of a deterrent force would have been far less than the eventual cost of the war.”
Retief is adamant that the ships and submarines were the correct choice. ”As far as the navy is concerned, we are fully and completely satisfied with the selections.”
Of course, he said, the embattled arms deal could be cancelled — but the cost at this stage would be too high.