SAS President Pretorius was the last of three President-class Type 12 frigates built in the UK for the South African Navy (SAN) during the 1960s.

[2]: 64  They carried 309 long tons (314 t) of fuel oil that gave them a range of 4,500 nautical miles (8,300 km; 5,200 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph).

[1]: 220–22, 238 By the mid-1960s, it was obvious that the sonars of the President class were capable of detecting submarines well outside the range of the Limbo anti-submarine mortars and the South Africans decided to follow the lead of the Royal Navy (RN) in giving them the ability to operate helicopters that could carry anti-submarine torpedoes or depth charges to a considerable distance from the ships.

A pair of American 12.75-inch (324 mm) Mk 32 triple-barrelled anti-submarine torpedo tubes were added amidships and their electronics were upgraded, including the addition of a Thomson-CSF Jupiter early-warning radar atop a new mainmast and a Selenia Orion fire-control system.

[1]: 227 Three President-class frigates were ordered by the South African Navy in the late 1950s following the Simonstown Agreement with the RN.

The ship was laid down at their shipyard in Scotstoun, Glasgow on 21 November 1960[3]: 22  and was launched on 28 September 1962 by Mrs. Mientjie Grobelaar, wife of General Pieter Grobbelaar, Chief of the South African Defence Force.

The ships departed three days later, bound for home, but they were forced to put into Fremantle when a pump in President Pretorius burnt out en route.

A year later, a squadron consisting of Simon von der Stel, President Pretorius, Tafelberg and two minesweepers visited Portuguese Angola.