South Africa: DA Says Take Action on Zimbabwe-Bound Weapons

This morning’s statement by Cabinet spokesperson Themba Maseko that the government could not stop the shipment of a cache of arms to Zimbabwe because it has to “tread very carefully” in its relations with Zimbabwe is the surest sign yet that government has completely lost the plot on the Zimbabwe issue.
If the government allows a consignment of weapons (including rocket launchers and ammunition) to cross South African territory unhindered, and stands idly by while these weapons are used to suppress the Zimbabwean people, then any pretence that we are an honest broker in the Zimbabwean electoral process will be exposed once and for all for the sham that it is.
World leaders are growing increasingly impatient with the South African government’s inability to grasp the urgency and seriousness of the crisis in Zimbabwe. According to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the “very credibility of the democratic process in Africa” is at stake. A number of permanent members of the UN Security Council have also raised concerns about the escalating violence and political oppression taking place in Zimbabwe. It is being reported from within Zimbabwe that the ZANU-PF government has stepped up the deployment of the army, police and intelligence units countrywide in order to harass and intimidate supporters of the opposition.
In this context of increasing violence, it will be inexcusable for South Africa to fail to stop the shipment of weapons being delivered to Harare. Apart from the obvious moral imperatives for stopping the shipment, the government is also legally obliged to act. According to the National Conventional Arms Control Act (NCACA), anyone who conveys, freights, or transfers conventional weapons is required to apply for a conveyance permit, and permits must only be granted by the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) after considering how those weapons will be used.
It clearly states in the Act that the NCACC must avoid transfers of weapons to governments that suppress human rights or where the weapons are likely to escalate conflict and endanger peace. The situation in Zimbabwe, by anyone’s standards, fails to meet these criteria.
The DA will urgently request that the Defence Portfolio Committee be briefed by the NCACC to explain without delay whether the necessary permit was granted and if so on what grounds.
The world’s astonishment at President Mbeki’s political defence of Robert Mugabe will likely turn into outright anger as we are now not only denying the existence of a crisis in Zimbabwe, but also actively facilitating the arming of an increasingly despotic and desperate regime.