The small South African town the United States has its eyes on

Simon’s Town in the Western Cape is increasingly at the heart of a global geopolitical struggle between major powers for control of the world’s trade routes. 

The naval base is one of the three points, alongside the Solomon Islands and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, that anchor the Indo-Pacific region, through which more than half of global trade travels. 

This is part of the reason why South Africa is receiving so much attention from global powers, such as the United States and China, according to political and economic analyst Dr Frans Cronje. 

“We are now living in a multipolar world where there are competing power blocs looking to control or influence key choke points,” Cronje explained on PSG’s Think Big webinar. 

These choke points are essentially commercial or naval shipping passages that are narrow and easily controllable from a single port. 

Simon’s Town has largely been forgotten as one of these choke points due to the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, enabling trade to flow from east to west and vice versa without going around the tip of Africa. 

However, in the past few years, the southern sea route around the Cape has seen its importance skyrocket due to conflict in the Middle East and the rising importance of the Indo-Pacific. 

“The Houthis in Yemen firing rockets into the Red Sea have diverted shipping around the Cape at a rate that is equivalent to what happened after the fall of Hong Kong and Singapore in World War II,” Cronje said. 

Simon’s Town, as one of the most strategically located ports along this route, has become central to the geopolitical struggle to control the Indo-Pacific. 

“The Americans understand that Simon’s Town is one of the three points that anchors control of the Indo-Pacific,” Cronje said. 

“They are in some trouble on the other points, such as the Solomon Islands and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, so Simon’s Town has suddenly become very important to them.” 

Furthermore, Simon’s Town is the backdoor to the South Atlantic, which is another crucial region considering the oil discoveries off the coast of Namibia and the rise of South America economically. 

This is similar to the reason why US President Trump talks so much about Greenland, as it gives you access to the Atlantic. 

“It takes rudimentary diplomatic skill to take America’s fixed investment interest and South Africa’s strategic importance to form a new bilateral treaty,” Cronje said. 

A new bilateral trade treaty with the United States could meaningfully increase fixed investment in South Africa and boost economic growth. 

“I think it is a vast opportunity for this government that they can take advantage off if they can adopt the correct strategy.” 

The rise of Simon’s Town

Simon’s Town is South Africa’s largest naval base and has played a critical role in the country’s positioning as a global player over the past few centuries. 

The history of the port is inseparable from that of the country, with it first being a Dutch naval anchorage from 1741 and serving as a refuge for merchant ships and whalers. 

As the meeting point of the two great oceans, the Atlantic and the Indian, Cape Town became a key focal point of maritime trade between the East and the West. 

Inevitably, it followed that the two good anchorages – Table Bay and Simon’s Bay – became important havens for shipping. 

The dangers of the Table Bay anchorage during the winter months were quickly and forcibly brought to the notice of seafarers, resulting in the safer anchorage in Simon’s Bay gaining preference. 

As South Africa gradually became part of the British Empire, the strategic importance of the town grew as it connected Europe to the east and the British crown jewel of India. 

In 1814, the port became the headquarters of the British South Atlantic Naval Squadron and played a central role in the exile of Napoleon to St Helena. 

This cemented the town’s role as the preeminent naval base in the South Atlantic, effectively controlling all traffic along the western coast of Africa and towards South America. 

The Royal Navy’s ships were in constant use even during peacetime to transport troops around the Empire and protect merchant shipping. 

Its importance was somewhat dented by the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, but it remained important to the British colonial project in Africa. 

Apart from that, it guarded British territories in the South Atlantic and ensured the safe passage of ships up the coast of Africa and to the Americas. 

In 1957, the facilities were formally transferred to South Africa, which was on the journey to becoming a republic and leaving the British Empire. It formally became an independent republic in 1961.

The port’s importance only grew with the advent of more modern surveillance technology, with the port at Simon’s Town being considerably expanded in the 1970s. 

An adjacent surveillance and communications centre was opened in 1973 and is able to track nearly all ocean traffic in the South Atlantic and South Indian oceans. 

This ability has made the port increasingly valuable to global powers, with the rise of the Indo-Pacific region as an economic powerhouse and the need to control trade routes amid increasingly complex global supply chains.