A satellite - a Kondor-E - is reportedly missing and its whereabouts a mystery, the Sunday Times reports this morning.
According to the paper, the R1.2 billion satellite was ordered from a Russian company eight years ago and is of the type often used for spying, although this is not its only function. The Sunday Times, in its lead story, says there are doubts as to whether the satellite even exists.
"The affair, billed Project Flute and later renamed Consolidates Project Flute, has caused tension at Cabinet level. This week, current and former ministers denied any knowledge of the satellite," reports the paper.
It says the satellite, which can apparently collect radar images of objects as small as a car even in night and through cloud cover, was ordered from Russian entity Mashinostroyenia in 2006.
However, says the paper, it could not get any clarity on where this satellite was, whether it had been launched, or what it would be used for.
The Sunday Times quotes Democratic Alliance member of Parliament, David Maynier, as saying the project was a "secret R1 billion bungle by defence intelligence".
According to the paper, the Russians complained in 2008 that the South African government had failed to make payments for the order and that then minister of defence Mosiuoa Lekota had frozen the deal.
The Sunday Times adds the project was later transferred to the Department of Science and Technology, but the paper was not able to verify its current status.
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