By Staff Reporters and Sapa
The government has defended the Chinese consignment of arms destined for Zimbabwe which is on board a ship in Durban harbour.
The An Yue Jiang, which is reportedly loaded with 77 tons of mortars, ammunition and rocket-propelled grenades, was boarded by SAPS explosives experts on Wednesday.
Reports of the arms shipment has sparked a political outcry with parties calling on the government to block the consignment to Zimbabwe's army.
| 'The consignment is within international laws' |
The ship's master, a Captain Sunaijun, said there was "no dangerous cargo on general cargo" on board and confirmed that it was destined to Zimbabwe.
Inspector Nicholas Gunther, of the SA Explosives Unit in Durban, said the vessel was carrying a shipment of arms.
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Leonard Hadebe, head of Durban Customs, told Sapa: "We have confirmed that the shipment was headed for Zimbabwe.
"It arrived at the Durban Harbour on April 14."
Defence Secretary January Masilela said on Wednesday night that there was nothing wrong with the "conveyance" of a Chinese consignment of arms to Zimbabwe.
Masilela, who chairs the Scrutiny Committee of the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC), said the consignment was a "simple" transaction between China and Zimbabwe.
He said South Africa had no jurisdiction over sovereign states which bought arms from each other.
The arms are to be transported to Zimbabwe after the ship docked in Durban harbour on Monday awaiting clearance.
Masilela said the Zimbabwean government had applied for a conveyance permit with his department and there was "no problem" in issuing it.
"As far as we are concerned, the consignment is within international laws since there are no embargoes on Zimbabwe on any list of the African Union, SADC (Southern African Development Community), EU, US, or the UN.
"These are the conventional agreements that the Scrutiny Committee has to look at before issuing a permit for sale or conveyance of a shipment," Masilela said on Wednesday night.
He rebuffed political parties' calls for South African authorities to stop the consignment and said he was "strictly" adhering to international standards.
"We are not working on speculation or what the media says.
"We work on a legal regime. We are not aware of any resolution against the government of Zimbabwe.
"This is a normal thing, a normal conveyance that was dealt with at a lower level," said Masilela.
DA national spokesperson on defence Rafeek Shah called on the government on Wednesday to intervene and prevent the delivery of the weapons.
"There are conflicting reports about whether the weapons are still on board the ship concerned or whether they, in fact, are on the road to Zimbabwe.
"Either way, it is imperative that action is taken to ensure that these weapons are not allowed to destabilise what is already a precarious situation in Zimbabwe," he said.
IFP spokesperson Musa Zondi said the party condemned Zimbabwe's purchase of arms at a time when people were living in poverty.
Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said: "We are going to discuss this and see if there's any action we can take. I don't want to pre-empt any decision."
The ANC was more cautious, saying it was "clueless" about the shipment and needed to have the facts before commenting.
- This article was originally published on page 1 of Cape Argus on April 17, 2008
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