S.A.S DRAKENSBERG

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SA Navy continues with anti-piracy patrols off Africa's east coast

The South African Navy continues to patrol the waters of the Mozambique Channel as part of its commitment to antipiracy operations off the east coast of Africa. The Navy, with the aid and support of Mozambique, has maintained an anti-piracy patrol in the Mozambique Channel since early 2011, under Operation Copper. The naval presence generally consists of a frigate supported by a C-47TP Dakota reconnaissance aircraft of the South African Air Force. In a letter to Parliament sent in July last year, President Jacob Zuma said that authorisation for the anti-piracy mission expires on March 31 this year. Speaking to reporters at the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium in Cape Town today, Chief of the Navy, Vice Admiral Johannes Mudimu, said that the anti-piracy operations have not stopped and are continuing.The frigate SAS Isandlwana, which had been on patrol off Mozambique, returned to Simon’s Town in mid-March as a consequence of participating in Exercise Good Hope V with the German navy. The fleet support vessel SAS Drakensberg has subsequently been despatched to the Mozambique Channel to replace the Isandlwana.