The South African Navy says there is a need to make ocean knowledge and its benefits accessible to all. Celebrations were held in Gqeberha today, to mark the World Hydrography Day and the potential of the ocean and its bounty to address poverty.
Hydrography is the mapping of the ocean floor.
Acting SA National Hydrographer, Commander Christoff Theunissen says they provide a critical service to the maritime community.
“Hydrography is the study of the world’s ocean floor particularly South Africa’s ocean floor and in our case, we are mandated to chart South African waters to aid safe navigation for all vessels transiting through our area. We are part of a very large international community which is regulated by the international hydrographic organisation which we are members state of, so we provide a critical service not just to the Republic of South Africa but also the maritime community as a whole.”
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Meanwhile, SA Navy still faces funding challenges.
Vice Admiral Monde Lobese, Chief of the South African Navy says they are however expecting a R1.4 billion injection from government.
“Because of the poor performance of the economy government has actually had to reprioritise and allocate a little fewer resource to the SANDF especially to the SA Navy so that it can prioritise human security requirements. The impact of that to the South African Navy is that now we are unable to maintain to provide the proper maintenance on our vessels because we don’t have the adequate spares that will require our submarines at sea so we must rob one submarine to keep the other. But National Treasury, they have allocated R1.4 billion to the South African Navy so that we can catch up with our maintenance and repair.”
