The South African navy had to deploy a reaction unit to guard an important radio communication antennae above the mountains in Muizenberg that was reportedly under threat from cable thieves.
According to reports, South Africa’s military has had already spent R10.5m in replacing an ageing fence around the navy’s antenna farm overlooking the Silvermine maritime communication facility in Cape Town.
The South African reports that theft and vandalism have so far resulted in equipment loss of more than R850,000. The fence is needed to prevent further theft and vandalism, which has so far resulted in equipment loss of more than R850,000.
Defence minister Thandi Modise recently indicated that there were no plans in place to shut down the Silvermine facility despite several infrastructure issues.
According to Modise, the facility plays a crucial role at various levels of national security, including maritime and air traffic communications.
However, in 2013 the Democratic Alliance’s David Maynier said that the South African Navy has reportedly been forced to remove vulnerable equipment from the radio antennae farms at the Naval Command Centre (NCC) at Silvermine in Cape Town because it is unsure when the Department of Public Works will get round to repairing the boundary fences.
“The fact that the boundary fences at Silvermine, which is a National Key Point, have collapsed is well-known and they have been awaiting repair by the Department of Public Works since 2011.
“That means that the Department of Public Works has failed to repair the boundary fence for nearly three years, making the NCC at Silvermine vulnerable to copper thieves,” Maynier said.
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Picture: JBay news