LETTER: History could repeat after naval exercises with Russia and China

The Mosi II naval exercises off Richards Bay, especially the SA Navy’s participation, have been ridiculed in both the international and local press (“How much damage to SA will its naval exercise with Russia do?”, February 17).

However, there could be more to it than smoke and mirrors. It is all happening on the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. President Cyril Ramaphosa was in Richards Bay for Armed Forces Day giving the exercises his blessing by association.

Geopolitically, China stands accused by US secretary of state Antony Blinken of supplying Russia with lethal aid. Mosi II is additional evidence that China and Russia are working together militarily. SA, as long suspected, has now declared for the Russian/Chinese axis and will face consequences from the US and Western Europe.

History tells us why this is happening. Dieter Gerhardt was a senior Russian spy unmasked in SA during the Cold War. He was the commander of the Simon’s Town naval base and had access to the Silvermine communications centre, which monitors all maritime traffic in the South Atlantic.  

The Cape route is still important, despite the Suez Canal, for shipping moving from the East to Europe and the US. The 2021 Ever Given Suez debacle illustrated how any disruption to the flow of intermediate goods can cripple European industry, something Russian President Vladimir Putin has already tried to do by withholding oil and gas.

In World War 2 the guns above Llandudno, with those on Robben Island, Fort Wynyard and the radar station at Fort Collins were designed to stop primarily German submarines from closing the Cape route, which they briefly succeeded in doing.

Another “accident” in the Suez Canal, coupled with a Chinese/Russian naval presence in Simon’s Town, could see history resonating in a rather unpleasant way.   

James Cunningham
Camps Bay

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