The Mafuta is a diamond-mining ship owned and operated by De Beers in the western coast of South Africa.

Then named Dock Express 20, the ship's keel was laid in 1982 in the Netherlands at Verolme Shipyard Heusden, and it was launched the following year.

Its total carrying capacity in terms of weight, is 14,617 long tons deadweight (DWT), the equivalent of roughly 300 adult male sperm whales.

[14] Dock Express 20 was powered by two Stork-Werkspoor 6TM410 four-stroke, medium-speed, marine diesel engines of 3,128 kW (4,195 hp) apiece.

When the Dock Express 20 was converted to a dynamically positioned cable ship, she was refitted with three 1,325 kilowatts (1,777 hp) azimuth thrusters to serve as its main propulsion.

[17] Dock Express 20 was one of three ships that worked on the northern section of the Pacific Crossing-1 (PC-1) system cable, linking the United States and Japan.

Prior to 2007, the ship had operated in the neighboring Atlantic 1 licence area in Namibia, which contained higher-quality diamonds.

[21] The dredging equipment aboard Peace in Africa includes a 240-ton crawler, described as "a large undersea tracked mining tool" connected to the ship by a 655-mm internal diameter rubber hose, and a "diamond recovery treatment plant" built by Bateman Engineering.