Friday, 14 February 2025.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is deeply concerned that despite South Africa’s prohibition of weapons sales to Israel, there are indications of very serious breaches of this embargo. In 2023 South African arms companies – with the approval of the South African government – sold arms with the value of R3,3 billion to countries that are among

Apartheid Israel’s largest suppliers, including the USA, Germany, Hungary, Italy and France.

The USA is Israel’s largest weapons supplier, and Germany is in the second place. Both the USA and Germany are big importers of South African weapons, with Germany being the biggest importer having imported R1,7 billion in bombs, shells, and other military technology in 2023, according to the most recent data that has been released by the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC). While it is of serious concern that NCACC is two years in arrears with it’s reporting about arms sales, all indications are that these figures have increased in the past two years.

In the past few years Israeli bombardments on Gaza accelerated the already huge demand for weapons from these allies, who in return are supplied by South African manufacturers. Over the same period German exports to Israel surged, with a huge number of new export licences having been granted, since the commencement of Israel’s genocidal attacks on Gaza in October 2023. It is evident then that South African arms that are sold to these countries, are transferred onwards to Israel, and are used to kill Palestinians in Gaza. This happens because South Africa does not have the requisite mechanisms to prevent it.

While the law compels the NCACC to give permission for South Africa manufactured weapons to be sold on to another state, and the end user must provide an End User Certificate (EUC), stating where the weapons will ultimately end up, this system is seriously flawed. The system is largely based on trust in an international arms environment that is fraught with illegal arms resales, hidden sales and fraudulent reporting, and there is no monitoring or regulation, and totally inadequate follow-ups and accountability.

The countries in Europe and the Middle East, where our weapons are exported to, have refused any inspections by the South African authorities to monitor whether the EUC’s are complied with, and the NCACC meekly bows to these objections. This, in effect means that there is absolutely no control about where exported South African weapons eventually end up. Even more disturbingly the NCACC has a long history of failing to follow up on

EUC’s, because it does not have the required resources and staff to ensure compliance.

The same is true for the war in the Ukraine where artillery stockpile shortages have been replenished by South African sales. Rheinmetall, the German based multinational arms conglomerate, in which the USA investment company BlackRock has a majority shareholding, is the majority controlling shareholder in Rheinmetall Denel Munitions (RDM) which has a subsidiary in South Africa. Rheinmetall recently stated that the

German army’s depots are empty because of the huge supplies going to Israel and Ukraine, with its South Africa branch being a major supplier of 155mm ammunition, that helps Rheinmetall to service a massive €8.5 billion contract with the German government.

Rheinmetall ships weapons manufactured in their RDM plants in South Africa to Israel and Ukraine, with a recent official report from the USA Department of Defence revealing that South Africa is listed as a participant in the Ukraine Defence Contact Support Group (UDCG) and is increasing the production of shells and gunpowder for Ukraine’s needs through RMD. This is all despite the fact that it is illegal for South African arms manufacturers to supply products to conflict zones.

In this context, the EFF is concerned that the NCACC’s lack of compliance and enforcement of our laws and its regulatory responsibilities is an extremely serious matter.

This means that the NCACC is failing in its core responsibility as a critical watchdog role.

This is no small matter, because the South African government’s case in the ICJ against Israel is founded on the Genocide Convention, which clearly states that not only states that commit genocide are guilty of genocide, but also those that enable genocide.

As a consequence of our dismal lack of arms control and failure to adhere to our own domestic law and regulations, as well as international arms control regulations, we ourselves are guilty of enabling genocide. The EFF demands that the South African government must, as a matter of urgency, reform our weak, and administratively inept approach to weapons exports, and strengthen the capacity of the NCACC to fulfil its legal mandate.

It is simply untenable for us to state in the ICJ that Israel is committing genocide, while weapons manufactured in South Africa supply Israel with the means to commit genocide. Therefore, it is evident that a suspension of arms exports from RDM plants in South Africa is necessary until a full investigation is completed, and there is certainty that the NCACC is fully capacitated and able to execute its regulatory responsibilities.

It is essential that transparency in all stages of arms production and supply must be achieved. This means not only obtaining all the necessary information about logistics and final recipients but also reviewing all previous shipments of shells and other weapons from RDM plants, and other arms manufacturers, during the conflicts in Israel and the Ukraine.

The EFF, through the Joint Standing Committee on Defence (JSCD) in Parliament, have already sharply raised these issues, and will relentlessly pursue the NCACC until they are addressed, and our country is in full compliance with our own legal and international commitments. Failure to do so will mean that the international diplomatic stance that we as a country take on human rights will increasingly become hypocritical and meaningless.

ISSUED BY THE ECONOMIC FREEDOM FIGHTERS

Leigh-Ann Mathys (National Spokesperson) 082 304 7572

Thato Lebyane (Media Enquiries) 078 304 7572