Three retired judges and a retired rear admiral to probe the Iranian navy ships fiasco

Three retired judges and a retired rear admiral will conduct the Board of Inquiry into why President Cyril Ramaphosa’s orders for Iranian warships not to participate in a joint naval exercise earlier in January this year were not obeyed.

Defence Minister Angie Motshekga announced the members of the board on Wednesday, 28 January 2026.

She said the board would be chaired by Judge Bernard Ngoepe, a former Judge President of the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Pretoria and member of the Court of Military Appeals. The other two judges would be former High Court Judge Kathleen Satchwell, well known for her human rights advocacy, and Judge Mashangu Leeuw, former Judge President of the North West Division of the High Court and Acting Judge in the Constitutional Court.

Retired Rear Admiral Patrick Duze is the only military officer on the Board of Inquiry. He has held several top positions in the SA Navy, including director of naval policy and doctrine.

The preponderance of civilian judges has been welcomed by some as signalling the greater likelihood of an independent inquiry, as the members of such boards of inquiry are usually all military officers.

The board’s inquiry will concern Exercise Will for Peace, which was conducted between 9 and 16 January 2026 from Simon’s Town with ships from the South African, Russian, Chinese, Iranian and United Arab Emirates navies.

Motshekga’s statement said she was setting up the Board of Inquiry “to establish all the facts around the exercise” after a series of reports containing serious allegations concerning President Ramaphosa’s instruction on how Exercise Will for Peace should be conducted.

“The aim of the Board of Inquiry is to investigate and report on the serious allegations that the President’s instructions may have not been carried out, misrepresented and/or ignored regarding the participation of the Islamic Republic of Iran during Exercise Will for Peace 2026.”

Motshekga originally announced on 16 January, the day Exercise Will for Peace ended, that she had established the Board of Inquiry to report back to her within seven days on why Ramaphosa’s instruction had not been obeyed.

In her statement announcing the members of the board on Wednesday this week, Motshekga explained the delay, saying: “In the endeavour to ensure transparency and full independence, consultation with the identified members of the board took longer than expected, thus impacting on the deadline as set.”

Motshekga set no new deadline, merely announcing: “The Board will commence its work as soon as all administrative aspects have been put in place.”

A close observer of the saga welcomed the appointment of the three judges. “It’s outside people, which I hope means a real investigation. I’m taking the win for now that it is a serious heavy-hitting BOI [Board of Inquiry].”

However, Pikkie Greeff, national secretary of the SA National Defence Union, said there were “questions about how these appointees fall under Section 101(4) of the Defence Act and hopefully that’s a point the minister will clear up in due course”.

He said that section of the Defence Act stated that members of a Board of Inquiry should be in the employ of the Department of Defence.

Independent military analyst Helmoed Heitman said: “Perhaps I am over-cynical, but I think the purpose is to hide or whitewash the fact that it was within our foreign policy, and to find some officer to throw under the bus.”

However, he said he did not think the judges appointed to the board “would be party to a political lynching”.

He said key questions for the Board of Inquiry included: Who decided to allow Iran to participate in the first place? And who, after the discussions in Pretoria about Iran’s withdrawal, decided that Iran should continue to participate?

“The choices run from Ramaphosa, the National Security Council (NSC) and Dirco to the minister of defence, the chief of the SA National Defence Force, the chief of joint operations to the general officer commanding joint operational headquarters.

“Although, I really do not see any one of the officers going against a ministerial, let alone presidential instruction.

“The Chief of the Navy (Vice Admiral Monde Lobese) and the Flag Officer Fleet do not seem to have been in those decision loops. The recommendation by the Chief of the Navy that the exercise continue, after the NSC suggested cancelling it altogether, does not place him in that loop. It was a professional naval recommendation for higher authority to agree or not agree and then decide.” DM