Move to end oil giants’ grip on SANDF

DEFENCE and Military Veterans Minister Angie Motshekga has thrown her weight behind a historic government effort to end a 63-year-old monopoly by five multinational oil companies - Shell, BP, Engen, Total, and Astron Energy - over South Africas strategic fuel infrastructure.

- SIFISO MAHLANGU

In a letter dated July 2025 and seen by The Star, Motshekga declared the Defence Department's readiness to serve as co-applicant in restructuring fuel storage arrangements that have allowed foreign-owned companies to effectively control South Africas military fueling operations. She warned that the current structure leaves the country dangerously exposed in times of geopolitical instability.

“The fragmented and privatised structure of port fuel infrastructure undermines national preparedness and leaves the State vulnerable” Motshekga wrote.

Her intervention follows a diplomatic embarrassment during recent BRICS military exercises, when the oil majors refused to refuel Chinese and Russian naval vessels docked in South African ports - forcing them to source fuel from Mozambique instead. The refusal was seen as a direct challenge to South African foreign policy and a stark demonstration of the companies’ power to override state decisions.

Foreign boardrooms dictate military readiness

Senior defence officials have long raised alarms about the military's dependence on foreign-controlled companies to maintain operations. The Air Force, Navy, and Army do not control their own fuel reserves and are instead reliant on supply chains managed by companies with primary allegiances to shareholders in London, Geneva, and The Hague.