SA Navy ‘did not overlook cheaper British submarines’

State arms procurer Armscor’s project manager for submarines, Rob Vermeulen, on Monday refuted claims that South Africa had overlooked an opportunity to purchase cheaper, British-manufactured Upholder/Victoria-class submarines.

He was responding to a question put to him by arms procurement commission evidence leader Sammy Lebala SC, who asked whether there was any truth to critics’ claims that Armscor sidelined the cheaper submarines by opting for an expensive German model due to corruption.

Mr Vermeulen resumed his testimony after Armscor and the Department of Defence relented to the commission’s demand that they declassify all sensitive documents. Judge Willie Seriti had postponed the hearings to give the government time to declassify the documents, saying he wanted to see all of them.

Read more