SA gets chilling wake-up call on piracy threat

Piracy is no here-today, gonetomorrow phenomenon – so here is a wake-up call to South Africa that the ‘Somali virus’ is alive, active and on the march. This chilling reality was underscored by leading maritime lawyer, Johan Swart of Shepstone and Wylie Attorneys at the annual general meeting of the Maritime Law Association of South Africa in Cape Town recently where he asserted the country’s “lax maritime security” was cause for grave concern. “South Africa is also facing an onslaught due to insufficient border security measures, in particular its increasingly vulnerable coastline.” Swart referred to testimony by South African Maritime Safety (Samsa) CEO, Tsietsi Mokhele, to Parliament’s transport portfolio committee that South Africa’s technological capacity to monitor and track foreign vessels in its waters was “non-existent”, a situation that makes it “ideal for ships embarking on clandestine activities – and indeed for pirates. “South Africa,” said Mokhele, “should therefore heed repeatedly issued warnings as the country is by no means immune to becoming a prime target for pirates and a hotspot for piracy.” The country is lagging, already five months overdue, in installing a Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT) system to monitor ships passing within 1 500km of its coastline. Swart concluded his engrossing presentation by saying: “The African continent is no longer an island unto itself…and is considered a virtual treasure trove for modern rocket-wielding pirates seeking to secure lucrative gains from their illacquired loot.”