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Viewing cable 09CAPETOWN196, National Commitee for arms control fails to disclose arms

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
09CAPETOWN196 2009-09-04 15:21 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Consulate Cape Town
VZCZCXRO9017
PP RUEHDU RUEHJO
DE RUEHTN #0196 2471521
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 041521Z SEP 09
FM AMCONSUL CAPE TOWN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3191
INFO RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA 6503
RUEHJO/AMCONSUL JOHANNESBURG 2172
RUEHDU/AMCONSUL DURBAN 3314
UNCLAS CAPE TOWN 000196 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM SF
 
SUBJECT: National Commitee for arms control fails to disclose arms 
deals. 
 
1. (SBU) On September 2, Poloff attended the Defence and Military 
Veterans committee meeting in Parliament where Minister of Justice 
and Constitutional Development, Jeff Radebe, briefed the committee 
on the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC).  This 
was originally supposed to be a closed meeting and was opening to 
the public at the last minute after pressure on the Committee chair 
from the Democratic Alliance (DA).  This is the first time in three 
years that the Committee has reported its activities openly in 
Parliament.  The current NCACC was appointed on July 21, 2009 and 
Radebe said 12.6 billion rand of contracts have been approved since 
July.  Radebe also said a detailed report of these contracts will be 
forthcoming.  Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa and Minister of 
National Intelligence Dr. Siyabanga Cwele were also present in the 
meeting.  Note.  Not only is it unusual for one Minister to be 
present and brief a Committee in Parliament, it is very unusual for 
three Ministers to be present.  End note. 
 
2. (U) Background note:  The NCACC is comprised of eight Ministers 
and three Deputy Ministers, chaired by Minister Radebe.  The 
National Conventional Arms Control Act, of 2002, amended in 2008, 
regulates conventional arms trade in South Africa. Generally, the 
Act prohibits SA from selling arms to governments that violate and 
suppress human rights and fundamental freedoms. SA is prohibited 
from selling arms "likely to contribute to the escalation of 
regional military conflicts, endanger destabilizing military 
capabilities into a region or otherwise contribute to regional 
instability or that may be used for purposes other than the 
legitimate defence and security needs of the government of the 
country of import." End background note. 
 
3. (SBU) Radebe briefed the committee as a result of DA MP David 
Maynier's allegations that South Africa is selling arms to rogue 
nations.  In a press conference earlier last month, Maynier named 
possible weapons transactions involving countries with dubious human 
rights records, such as Libya, Syria, Venezuela, and North Korea. 
He also alleged pending arms deals of ammunition with Zimbabwe. 
During the course of the meeting in Parliament, Maynier noted that 
most of his allegations of dodgy deals happened before Radebe's 
tenure as Chair of the NCACC and Maynier congratulated Radebe on his 
refusal to export flight suits to Iran.  Although Radebe did confirm 
some deals in 2008 to Sudan, Libya and Venezuela, among others, he 
refused to answer questions from Maynier about specific deals that 
may be pending with Syria and Zimbabwe and several other countries. 
Radebe refused to answer detailed questions from Maynier because he 
was only asked to report on how the NCACC operates and was not 
requested to provide information on every arms deal currently 
pending before the NCACC.  Two members of the committee noted that 
it was inappropriate for Maynier to ask Radebe about specific 
countries he considers to be human rights violators because then it 
would become a shouting match with all MPs giving their views about 
which countries they believe to be violators of human rights, and 
both specifically mentioned their belief that the U.S. would fall 
into this category.  Radebe ended by saying the NCACC would provide 
further details in either its quarterly or annual report. 
 
4. (SBU) Comment.  Many ANC MPs on the Defence committee believe 
Maynier was out of line when he released this information 
publically.  Nyamni Booi, Chair of the Defense and Military Veterans 
Qpublically.  Nyamni Booi, Chair of the Defense and Military Veterans 
Committee, told Poloff that the ANC has hired a lawyer to 
investigate if Maynier is criminally liable for his actions. Because 
the NCACC is comprised of eight Ministers and three Deputy 
Ministers, who are all senior members of the ruling party, the ANC 
members of the Defense and Military Veterans committee are fiercely 
loyal to the members of the NCACC and are likely to support whatever 
stance the NCACC takes in direct supposition to their parliamentary 
mandate of oversight.   End comment.