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Is the South African Navy trying to conceal a training exercise gone horribly wrong?

Or, on the other hand, is IOL peddling fake news?

Given that the website is still banging on about the Tembisa 10 saga, you can be forgiven for having extreme doubts when it comes to believing what the Iqbal Survé-led outlet publishes.

Let’s start with the IOL story before we dig deeper, published yesterday and titled ‘Naval cannon gun fired into Simon’s Town mountain by mistake’:

The incident is said to have taken place on Friday after a gun was fired from a corvette at the navy dockyard but instead of taking aim at the sea, it took aim at the mountain.

Weekend Argus reliably learnt of the incident from numerous sources including irate residents who confirmed the incident but were told it was being handled “in-house”.

High-ranking sources in the area also confirmed that the navy had a freak- accident during a training session.

One of those sources told IOL that the cannon’s shot “just missed a few of the houses” and “the navy is trying to keep this under wraps”.

This less than detailed map of the incident was also widely shared:

Allegedly Navy corvette discharged its 76mm cannon into the Just Nuisance steps above Simon’s Town this AM. Anyone with more info? pic.twitter.com/FA7TcPztdG

— Guerrilla Media 🏴‍☠️🙂 (@Paratus2014) January 29, 2022

Defence analyst and expert Helmoed-Römer Heitman did go on the record for the story, saying a similar incident occurred in the 1960s and another in the 1980s.

As the story began to spread, and other outlets picked up on it, social media users began to cast doubt on the veracity of the claims:

If you receive a story about a SA Navy vessel at Naval Base Simon’s Town firing a round into the mountain, it is FAKE NEWS #SANDF #SAN #SANavy

— Dean Wingrin (@deanwingrin) January 28, 2022

Via this Twitter conversation, here’s the director at African Defence Review, Darren Olivier, casting further doubt on the claims:

He also added this:

I’m confident it’s misreported, and I expect we’ll see a formal SANDF denial today. Helmoed was misquoted somewhat in that piece: He did not confirm that it happened, he only said that if it did it would not be the first time. He also never said ‘cannon gun’.

— Darren Olivier (@darren_olivier) January 31, 2022

Others in the area weighed in:

Like the Tembisa 10, this incident never happened. Another thumbsuck by Iqbal Surve’s lie factory. (I live in Simon’s Town, exactly where the cannon ball was supposed to have landed) https://t.co/uJRg5VUnhX

— Max du Preez (@MaxduPreez) January 31, 2022

I live in Simon’s Town. I can confirm that this is fake news. This never happened. Slanderous article… Expected this kind of nonsense from Die Son…

— George MacDonald (@GeorgeM46006802) January 31, 2022

Simple logic will tell you it’s fake.
Live fire exercises IN the harbour?
A 76mm high explosive cannon shell fired and nobody in Simonstown, Fish Hoek or working in the dockyard knows about it?
Look at how the frigates are moored. A ship’s bridge would have to be totally blownup.

— Brad Ruiters (@braddo_ct) January 30, 2022

Had confirmation from a retired Navy person living in Simon’s Town that it is fake news. Glad I unfollowed IOL!

— Wayne Kitching (@w_kitching) January 31, 2022

As a City Bowl resident, I still get a massive skrik every day at noon as the noon gun goes off.

Surely if a cannon gun was fired onto the mountain of Simon’s Town, there would be residents detailing the experience firsthand?

Back to the drawing board and the Tembisa 10 I guess, Iqbal.

[source:iol]