South Africa's fisheries patrol and research fleet — the vessels that police the country's fishing grounds — had been managed since 2005 by Smit Amandla Marine under a contract worth about R1 billion. In late 2011 the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries under Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson re-tendered the work (MLRF 088) and awarded the R800 million five-year contract to a consortium led by Iqbal Survé's Sekunjalo — a group that held fishing rights the fleet was meant to police. Under pressure the award was withdrawn. The Minister announced an inquiry on 21 March 2012 — "As a result of our own flawed processes, an innocent company, Sekunjalo, has been portrayed as the culprit" — then abandoned it, and on 31 March 2012 handed the fleet to the SA Navy, which had no capacity to run it, against the Public Protector's express warning.
The vessels rusted at their moorings; fisheries patrols stopped. Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's "Docked Vessels" report of December 2013 found maladministration and "reckless dealing with state money" and recommended that the President discipline the Minister. He did not. The Minister's application to review the report was dismissed with costs in 2017. Joemat-Pettersson went on to the Energy portfolio, where the strategic fuel sale in this archive followed.