COALITION FOR DEFENCE ALTERNATIVES

APPENDIX: Notes on targets for base conversion

Schmidtsdrift: Schmidtsdrift about 70 kilometres from Kimberley where 4 300 members of the Namibian San community -- used as trackers during the South West Africa/Angola wars during the 1970s and '80s -- were settled by the SADF in 1990. The monthly cost in 1998 of sustaining the community, even in appalling conditions, was R890 000. The people are living in cramped and leaky tents.

The community is to be moved again at the end of 1999 to the farm Platfontein near Kimberley. The land has been bought for R7,5 million, but reportedly has agricultural carrying capacity for only 60 people.

The San community at Schmidtsdrift has since 1990 degenerated into despondency and frequent alcohol abuse. Having aligned themselves with the apartheid-era SADF, there is not much sympathy in government circles for the community. Schmidtsdrift is to be returned to the Bathlaping community later in 1999. They had been forcefully removed in 1968.

Lohatla: In 1976, the community at Lohatla, in the Northern Cape, was evicted to make way for the establishment of a battle school. Lohatla is reportedly the third largest of its kind in the world after Fort Bragg in the United States and a facility in Russia, yet the SANDF insists that Lohatla is an essential facility for the defence of South Africa. The SANDF refuses to return the land unless it is compensated both for installations valued at R300 million and land elsewhere of equal size. More recently, Lohatla has been used for "peacekeeping" exercises such as Operation Blue Crane, and European weapons manufacturers have reportedly been encouraged to test their armaments at Lohatla in an effort to defray the expenses of maintaining the facility.

In addition, Lohatla is now so polluted with unexploded ordnances that some areas are unfit for human habitation. The Lohatla community is represented by the Association for Northern Cape Rural Advancement (Ancra) which is based in Kuruman. Ancra argues that the SADF got "clean land" in the 1970s and, on the principle that the polluter pays, wants clean land back. The cost of cleaning has been estimated at about R75 million. The case was referred to mediation by the Land Claims Court.

Simon's Town: The "Coloured" community of Simon's Town was also evicted during the 1970s, to Ocean View and other areas. The Surplus People's Project has developed a register of the resultant land claims. In addition, the SA Navy base has enormous unutilised and underutilised facilities, which could be redeveloped to the economic and social benefit of the community.

The United Nations arms embargo from 1977 until 1994 was particularly effective in denying the SA Navy new equipment. The SA Navy presently comprises three submarines and nine strikecraft, all of which are obsolete and barely seaworthy, plus two supply vessels. Consequently, the Navy hierarchy is desperate to acquire four frigates and three submarines from Germany at a cost of R11,213 billion. An offset package of R46,281 billion to create 26 404 jobs is currently being negotiated, centres around construction of a stainless steel plant and deep water harbour at Coega near Port Elizabeth.

The Coega project is being challenged by environmentalists and others on the arguments that it is neither environmentally nor financially viable. Should these challenges prove successful and the frigate and submarines acquisitions abandoned, the SA Navy will essentially cease to exist after the year 2004. What then of Simon's Town navy base?

The Australian Navy base in Hobart, Tasmania has successfully been converted into an Antarctic research station. Simon's Town geographic situation for marine research, given the juncture of the Atlantic and Indian oceans, is considerably more advantageous. The Institute for Marine Technology owned by Armscor represents another very substantial public investment which is presently almost unutilised. The IMT specialised in vibration technology in an effort to counter the obsolescence of South Africa's submarines.

In addition, Simon's Town's offers major opportunities for further development of its tourism industry. Thus, redevelopment of Simon's Town into a marine and Antarctic research facility and tourism centre could create many more and better paid jobs than the 800 jobs resulting from the Navy dockyard.

Cape Town: There are several, often large, tracts of military land within Cape Town which are idle, but which could be redeveloped to the benefit of local communities as housing, industrial sites, commercial development etc. These include Youngsfield and Wingsfield (it appears that much of Ysterplaat has already been handed over to Century City and Rutanga Junction), Wynberg Military Hospital, Cape Town Castle, Tamboerskloof ammunition dump. Langebaanweg airbase near Saldanha also has redevelopment potential.

For instance, a proposal three years ago to redevelop Youngsfield as the "Mall of Africa," a major film studio for TIME/Warner plus 5 000 houses has seemingly floundered under bureaucratic lethargy.

Property developers obviously have their eyes on Tamboerskloof because of its proximity to the centre of Cape Town. Other suggestions are park and playground facilities for the adjacent Bo-Kaap community and/or cession into the Table Mountain National Park. Likewise, the SA Navy resort facility at Donkergat could be incorporated into the West Coast National Park.