Durban -
For the first time there is greater transparency on what weapons and military machinery South Africa exports to where in the reports of the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC), the statutory body overseeing such transactions.
Details as to what is being exported, the quantity, the rand and cents value and a description have emerged in the latest NCACC reports for the last six months of 2013 tabled in Parliament.
This stands in stark contrast to previous NCACC reports merely stating country, value and what category of weaponry was exported.
The change followed an independent legal opinion obtained by Justice Minister Jeff Radebe, who chairs the NCACC, on the stricter reporting criteria demanded under the amended legislation.
The NCACC was formally established in 2002 under the chairmanship of the now late Kader Asmal, but it was among the first matters contemplated by South Africa’s democratic state as far back as 1995.
Essentially, no South African company may sell or export weapons unless the committee approves manufacture, sale and marketing of conventional weapons, ranging from arms, munitions, vessels and vehicles designed for war, to components, technologies and dual-use goods.
Despite the oversight of South Africa’s weapons and machinery exports, these have been steeped in controversy, precisely because of the lack of transparency - for example, 2012 sales to civil war-torn Syria were eventually established to be de-mining equipment - and this followed after the wrangle of timeous submission to the parliamentary defence committee for its oversight were resolved.
Radebe, in correspondence seen by Independent Newspapers, has committed the NCACC to tabling reports which reflect the enhanced reporting criteria, and to updating previous reports to bring them into line with the required reporting standards, before being tabled in Parliament in May.
DA defence spokesman David Maynier has welcomed the move to transparency.
“For the first time detailed information... will be disclosed to Parliament. The NCACC’s enhanced reports will boost Parliament’s capacity to conduct oversight of conventional arms sales,” he said.
A request for comment from justice was not responded to.
According to the latest available NCACC reports, South Africa exported conventional weapons worth R2.9 billion between July and December 31 last year, and signed 111 contracts worth R20.5bn.
South African arms exports went to America to Zimbabwe, France, and Saudi Arabia, and R100 000 worth of ammunition went to Lesotho.
Daily News