A South African arms deal-bought attack submarine, which has been out of action for about six years, has been handed to German technicians for a major refit.
SAS Manthatisi was formally handed over to a German team of technicians during a ceremony at naval headquarters in Simonstown two weeks ago. A South African team will monitor the overhaul at the base.
Although the refit is an open secret among the naval fraternity, neither the SA Defence Force nor the German company involved would divulge any details this week. ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, the parent company of the shipyard that built the submarines, referred queries to the department of defence.
Armscor spokesman Daphney Chuma said a formal statement about the refit would only be released next week.
SAS Manthatisi has suffered a series of high-profile mishaps, including crashing into a quay, having a power cable plugged incorrectly into the power supply system and defects with its battery propulsion system.
Defence industry analyst Helmoed Heitman said the refit was good news because the longer it was delayed the more problems occurred.
"Like a car service, you can postpone a refit but then minor damage, defects and faults begin to pile up and also sometimes impact on each other, with the result that things become messy and expensive when the ship finally does go into the dockyard. That is a problem the SA Navy faces with its frigates, all of which have been slipping further and further behind their refit schedules."
South Africa has three attack submarines - SAS Manthatisi, SAS Charlotte Maxeke and SAS Queen Modjadji - that cost an estimated R8-billion.
Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package. 