Maritime patrol fleet bidders to be named

The department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries will today release the names of the companies that have tendered for the management of its marine patrol and research fleet, a service that has been dogged by controversy for nearly two years. However, an informed source said that Sekunjalo Consortium, Smit Amandla Marine (SAM), Nautica, P&O Maritime Services, SVMS and a US-based shipping company, Tswelopele Ship Management, had lodged bids. SAM previously held the tender while Sekunjalo won the preferred bidder status last year, but later withdrew after a court interdict was brought by SAM. It argued that the adjudication process for awarding Sekunjalo this status had been irregular.

After Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson accused SAM of fraud relating to its previous contracts and Sekunjalo withdrew, the contract was given to the SA Navy from April last year. This, however, was also withdrawn when it became clear that the navy was struggling to manage the ships. Yesterday Palesa Mokomele, the minister’s spokeswoman, referred queries to a departmental spokeswoman and said she could not comment as her appointment had ended on Friday. She did, however, confirm that the names of the bidding firms would be released today. The fleet includes three fisheries research vessels – the Ellen Khuzwayo, the Algoa and the Africana – and four patrol vessels – the Lilian Ngoyi, the Sarah Baartman, the Victoria Mxenge and the Ruth First.

Amid much fanfare, the minister announced in November 2011 that Sekunjalo would run the fleet when SAM’s contract ended in April 2012. The contract was valued at R800 million then but is now believed to be closer to R900m. After Sekunjalo pulled out the navy took over the department’s fleet for a year after the SAM contract expired, with no replacement company having been found to manage the fleet. Earlier this year, Nautic Africa was contracted to assist with vessel operations, including bunkering, crewing and other logistics. In April Damen Shipyards was contracted to maintain and repair the ships.

In May, the offices of SAM were raided as part of an investigation of alleged irregularities in the awarding of the tender to manage the vessels. The company said at the time that it was co-operating fully with the Directorate of Priority Crime Investigations – known as the Hawks – which conducted the raid. Last May, Joemat-Pettersson attacked SAM at a Cape Town Press Club meeting, saying the renewal of its contract in 2005 without a tender and then again in 2010 and 2011 – and for two months again in 2012 – was the closest thing to undermining the rule of law she had ever witnessed.

She said the SA Deep Sea Trawling Industry Association had committed the criminal offence of fronting for SAM in conducting research on the hake allowable catch on the Africana. “It is nothing other than fronting,” she added. The public protector’s report on irregularities in the awarding of the 2012 tender has still to be completed while the Hawks report has also not been made public.