Why aren't more questions being asked about Rheinmetall Denel Munitions (RDM) exporting munitions to Turkey, asks Terry Crawford-Browne.

Oxfam estimates that 122 million people around the world will this year die of famine, of which wars and their consequent devastation are a major cause. Other estimates are even higher. The World Food Programme is unable to raise the relatively paltry amount of $5 billion to feed starving people in Yemen. South Africa's complicity in both the Yemeni and Libyan humanitarian disasters is diabolical. 

May we hope and pray that Covid-19 finally becomes a wake-up call to the ANC? In March, UN secretary-general António Guterres appealed for a Covid ceasefire, saying:

South Africa was one of the original 53 signatories to that appeal and, as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2019/2020, bears particular responsibility for global peace and security during the Covid-19 pandemic.  Yet the hypocrisy of our government's signature to the appeal was soon exposed. In the words of the German foreign minister during the UN Security Council debate on Libya on July 8:  "It is time for governments to stop telling lies." 

The German arms company Rheinmetall deliberately locates its production in countries, such as South Africa, where the rule of law is weak in order to bypass German arms export regulations.  It holds the controlling 51 percent shareholding in Rheinmetall Denel Munitions (RDM). About 85 percent of RDM's production has been for export, with Saudi Arabia and the UAE having been its main markets. RDM's weapons have been identified as used to commit Saudi/UAE war crimes in Yemen, even including the destruction of a hospital in Hodeida. 

RDM was also caught red-handed in April and May, exporting munitions to Turkey. Minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu (who doubles as chairperson of the National Conventional Arms Control Committee) claimed on June 25 that he did not know about Turkey, and speciously declared:

The obvious question is what bribes were paid by whom, and to whom? Who authorised six flights of Turkish A400M aircraft to land in Cape Town and to uplift those RDM exports to Turkey in violation of the Covid-19 aviation restrictions? When the NCACC belatedly suspended exports to Saudi Arabia and the UAE following the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, RDM shifted its focus to Turkey. 

Quite extraordinarily, SA's defence minister, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, told Parliament in June there was nothing to prevent SA from selling arms to Turkey, and those RDM exports were approved by state security, defence intelligence and Dirco (Department of International Relations and Cooperation).

The reality is that the NCACC has a disgraceful 20-year history of closing its eyes to the stipulations of the National Conventional Arms Control Act that SA will not supply arms to countries that abuse human rights, to regions in conflict, and/or to countries subject to UN arms embargoes. Since news of the Turkish debacle broke, RDM has announced a R200 million contract to update an ammunition factory in an unnamed country, subsequently identified as Egypt. 

Egypt is a corrupt military dictatorship with an appalling human rights record which, together with Saudi Arabia and the UAE, supports Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar.  In short, South Africa will be supplying weapons to both sides in the Libyan conflict.  An estimated 45% of global corruption is attributed to the arms trade.

Is President Cyril Ramaphosa and his government serious about tackling the scourge of corruption in this country, plus the devastating consequences that arms trade corruption has for the poorest communities, not only in SA but also around the world?  A quick test of such a commitment would be immediate revocation of Rheinmetall's licences to operate in South Africa.

As we approach Mandela Day, it is sadly necessary to remind the president of his predecessor's inaugural commitment: "Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world."

- Terry Crawford-Browne is a co-ordinator at World Beyond War in South Africa.

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