The government has confirmed that it has earned close to R12-million from chartering the offshore environmental protection vessel Sarah Baartman to PetroSA's Mossel Bay gas platform operations since August 2005.
The vessel was specifically designed to patrol South Africa's offshore economic exclusive zone (EEZ), including the Prince Edward Island group where the lucrative Patagonian toothfish resource, valued at billions of rands, has been devastated by poachers.
But Environment Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk justified the use of the vessel as a "safety standby vessel and guard ship", saying its charter "may be considered if it is not engaged in any operational activity during that period, instead of it incurring costs lying in port".
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"The revenue received from the charters is used to supplement the vessel's high operating costs," he said in Parliament in response to questions posed by the DA's Isaac Julies.
'It really is no different than the SAPS renting out their vans for parcel delivery' Van Schalkwyk's answers, filed this week, have been slammed by some sections of the marine community, where rumours of the anti-poaching vessel's "outsourcing" have been doing the rounds for months, in spite of denials by the department.
Monty Guest, chairman of the diving community umbrella body Underwater Africa, described the confirmation of the chartering of the Sarah Baartman as "a major big deal", and said he was particularly angry because of the secrecy of the deal, with senior Marine & Coastal Management staff having denied it.
"It really is no different than the SAPS renting out their vans for parcel delivery," he said.
"And while they don't use this mega-expensive vessel, which we paid for, for the purpose for which it was acquired, they have the cheek to ban diving and shut down the wild abalone industry because they can't get a handle on poaching.
'How does he justify such a waste of resources'
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