Sub probe reopened, says lawyer; navy denies it

The board of inquiry report into the deaths of three navy officers during a submarine exercise off Kommetjie last year has been reopened, says the lawyer representing Commander Romero Hector, the widower of Lieutenant Commander Gillian Elizabeth Hector, who died in the tragedy.

However, the navy has denied that the inquiry has been reopened.

Lieutenant Commander Hector, the executive officer on the submarine SAS Mantashi, died along with Master Warrant Officer William Masela Mathipa (coxswain), and Warrant Officer Class One Mmokwapa Lucas Mojela (coxswain under training), after being swept overboard by freak waves on September 20 last year while doing a vertical transfer (vertrep) using an SA Air Force maritime Lynx helicopter (“Three SA Navy officers dead after being swept out to sea,” Echo, September 21, 2023).

Lieutenant Commander Hector’s husband appointed retired Colonel Brian Plaatjies, a former senior military judge now a practising attorney, last month to represent him after the navy allegedly refused him a copy of the outcome of the board of inquiry and he had to read the outcome in the media.

The navy denied the allegations by Commander Hector (“Sub tragedy finding like Apartheid whitewash - lawyer,” Echo, September 13).

The outcome of the board’s report was released last month after the families of the dead submariners and Defence Minister Angie Motshekga had been briefed.

The board found that the tragedy could not have been prevented, and the chief of the navy, Vice Admiral Monde Lobese blamed “freak waves”, adding the navy had taken steps to improve operational safety, and its standing operating procedures were being revised to improve areas highlighted by the board of inquiry (“Navy to improve safety after probe into sub tragedy,” Echo, September 9).

However, Colonel Plaatjies said the report had the feel of an Apartheid-era whitewash about it and vowed to expose inadequacies, if any, in the report.

He said following the navy’s failure to provide Commander Hector with a copy of the report, he had sent the navy, on Tuesday September 17, a final request for the report to be issued to his client on or before Friday September 27.

In the letter, he said that should the navy fail to provide his client with a copy, legal action would be taken through the Promotion of Access to Information Act.

He said Vice Admiral Lobese had subsequently told him, in a letter, that the board of inquiry had been reopened as new facts had come to light that had not been considered or formed part of the board of inquiry’s investigation.

Colonel Plaatjies said he was told that the board was given until the end of October to finalise the investigation.

He said he found it “strange” that following his communication, the inquiry had been reopened but had indicated to the navy that he would await the outcome of the re-opened inquiry and engage the navy while observing the required protocols.

“Did I not say that I will expose any deficiencies, if any, and leave no stone unturned,” he said.

However, following a media enquiry by the Echo, the navy denied that the board of inquiry had been reopened, saying, “Nothing further has been released regarding the board of inquiry.”