South Africa’s secret spy in space, another multibillion rand SA scandal
The South African government remains tight-lipped about the alleged development of a spy satellite which reportedly cost the taxpayer R1.2 billion.
First it was the Nkandla debacle, where the South African tax payer allegedly unknowingly financed President Jacob Zuma’s very own Buckingham Palace.
The more than R200 million KwaZulu-Natal homestead built for the president and his ever-growing family has provoked investigation after investigation, interdicts and calls for him to step down.
But what could possibly make South Africans angrier?
Well, how about the development of a secret spy satellite which reportedly cost the taxpayer R1.2 billion.
While government remains tight-lipped about the alleged development, the South African media has reported the existence of the multibillion rand project.
Democratic Alliance Member of Parliament David Maynier was quoted as saying this secret spy satellite project could become “one of the biggest scandals to hit the country”.
However, many are of the opinion this project would not be the worst scandal to hit South Africa but rather one of the most expensive.
Referring all questions to the Defence Department, the South African State Security Department wouldn’t confirm the existence of the satellite or whether government planned to use it to spy on South Africans.
The Defence Department also rejected a South African newspaper’s request request to comment on the matter.
But a spokesperson has been quoted as saying the project is ‘classified’.
Meanwhile, Maynier suspects the cost of the project could be more than R1.2 billion – but the amount remains a secret because of the project’s “classification”.
He said an estimated R2.8 billion was channelled to the Defence Department’s special defence account between 2006 and 2013.
According to Maynier, some of the funding was described as ‘the development of strategic information collecting ability’.
Apparently the department signed an agreement with a Russian company to develop a Condor-E-type surveying satellite and Russian media reports state that a satellite for an ‘anonymous foreign client’ could be launched on 27 February this year.
By Tamsin Wort
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