NCACC inspectorate should investigate sniper rifle contracting permits with Syria

The Democratic Alliance (DA) believes that the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) inspectorate must investigate a contracting permit that was issued for the supply of 7.62 mm sniper rifles and accessories to Syria.

NCACC chairperson Jeff Radebe has confirmed, in a reply to a parliamentary question marked "confidential", that a contracting permit had been authorised for the supply of 7.62 mm sniper rifles and accessories to Syria.

However, in the same reply the Minister confirms that, although a contracting permit was authorised, the 7.62 mm sniper rifles and accessories were not delivered to Syria.

There were reports that Syria had attempted to purchase a large consignment of sniper rifles - possibly as many as 1000 - from South Africa in 2010.

The fact is that the NCACC should never even have considered authorising a contracting permit for the supply of sniper rifles and accessories to Syria.

The preamble to the law regulating conventional arms sales in South Africa says that we will not trade in conventional arms with states engaged in repression, aggression and terrorism.

When considering whether to authorise permit applications, the NCACC are required by law to:

·         avoid the transfer of conventional arms to governments that systematically violate or suppress human rights and fundamental freedoms;

·         avoid the transfer of conventional arms to governments that are likely to contribute to the escalation of regional military conflicts; and

·         avoid contributing to terror and crime.

How, then, was a contracting permit authorised for the supply of sniper rifles and accessories to a country like Syria?

Syria was not involved in a full-scale civil war when the permit was authorised but it was, and remains, one of the most repressive regimes in the world.

Syria is a dictatorship, functioning under a state of emergency that has been in place for decades, and reportedly supports organisations such as Hizbollah and Hamas.

There is perhaps no country less suitable to receive a large consignment of sniper rifles manufactured in South Africa.

The NCACC's decision to authorise a contracting permit to supply sniper rifles and accessories to Syria does not comply with the guiding principles and criteria set out in the law regulating conventional arms sales in South Africa.

The NCACC's decision to authorise the permit in question may therefore have been illegal.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) will therefore write to the NCACC's inspectorate and request that this matter be investigated.

The NCACC's inspectorate must investigate whether, in authorising a contracting permit to supply 7.62 mm sniper rifles and accessories to Syria, the NCACC complied with all the internal processes and the law regulating conventional arms sales in South Africa.

This is not the first time that the NCACC has been caught out authorising permits for sniper rifles and ammunition to repressive regimes.

The NCACC authorised the sale of more than 100 sniper rifles and more than 50 000 rounds of ammunition to Libya in 2010.

We can only imagine the carnage that would have resulted had the sniper rifles been exported to Bashar al Assad's brutal regime in Syria.

South African manufactured sniper rifles could have been used to pick off innocent civilian protesters on the streets of Syria.

Statement issued by David Maynier MP, DA Shadow Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, March 26 2012

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