Cape Town - Transnet General Manager for Security, Major General Rodney Toka, has revealed that only a small fraction of the pirates operating in seas around the world are successfully prosecuted, following their arrest.
He said only around 1.4 percent were prosecuted.
Toka, along with his southern African counterparts, formed part of a string of delegates attending the Maritime and Coastal Security Africa Conference in Cape Town on Friday.
He said African countries needed to coordinate forces to achieve successful maritime security.
Following his presentation, some of the delegates were of the view that terrorism legislation should not be used to fight piracy. They said that pirates, unlike terrorists, did not habour political agendas.
But others pointed out that, in some instances, the line between terrorism and piracy was blurred.
South African Maritime Security Authority Chief Executive Commander Tsietsi Mokhele put the on-going piracy activities off the coast of Somalia in the spotlight. In order to combat piracy there, he suggested that shipping companies who passed through the area should show interest in protecting the poor country.
Mokhele voiced concern against the dumping of toxic material into Somali waters which, among other things, killed fish. He said many pirates started off as fisherman whose livelihood had been compromised.
He said that maritime security should take into account developmental and socio-economic threats.
Mokhele called for an improvement in surveillance systems across Africa to provide "comprehensive maritime security and environmental monitoring".
"If we are calling for attention, we need to be relevant to the citizens, to the development of our countries and the continent," he said.
Yesterday, South African Commander in Chief of the Navy Vice-Admiral Johannes Mudimu told the conference that the recently accepted Maritime Security Strategy showed that they needed to focus not only on the symptoms of piracy off Somali waters, but address the root causes.
These included the ongoing political instability in the country, lack of good governance, lack of viability of the local economy and poverty.
"Simply put, the Maritime Security Agenda needs to be furthered within the context of the broader social economic revitalisation of the region and the continent.
"This is important when considering that most matters of maritime crime originate on land. A solution which only addresses itself to the maritime dimension, without taking cognisance of the broader land-based complexities will achieve little," he said.
