Комитет по контролю над вооружениями Южной Африки получил 100% одобрений, но оппозиция обвиняет министра в лжи и неэффективности

South Africa’s National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) is moving in the right direction with every application submitted to it in the first quarter of this year considered for approval. The endorsement from Joint Standing Committee on Defence (JSCD) co-chair Phiroane Phala came in a statement post an NCACC briefing to the Joint Standing Committee on Defence (JSCD) on Friday 7 August. NCACC Chair, Minister in The Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, delivered opening remarks after which Sipho Mashaba, Directorate Conventional Arms Control (DCAC) Acting Operational Head, updated the committee. Calling the NCACC performance “strong”, the defence oversight committee, one of two in Parliament’s National Assembly (NA), quoted three statistics in support of the South African defence industry (SADI). Topping the list was it approving 64 contracting permits with a total value of R17 billion followed by 86 munitions export permits worth R855 million and 29 dual-use export permits worth R172 million. (It should be noted that contracting permits do not represent orders signed but export permits do.) A Parliamentary Communication Services (PCS) statement issued post the briefing does not list any applications not approved in the first quarter of this year. The 100% approval record, as per the statement, is consistent with recommendations made during the 20 to 22 July Defence Industry Lekgotla, which emphasised the importance of expediting processing applications to enable compliant businesses to secure new contracts and remain competitive internationally, the statement notes. Phala is on record as saying the approvals are testimony to the JSCD “consistently emphasising” the importance of regular meetings where timely decisions are taken enabling the SA defence industry to fulfil contractual obligations as well as pursue new business opportunities. He notes the increase in contracting permits from R5.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025 to R17 billion in the first three months of this year as evidence of a steady recovery and the growing competitiveness of South African defence products in global markets. However, munitions export permits fell in value from R2.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025 to R855 million in the first quarter. The PCS statement has Phala saying “the strong performance reflected in the report highlights the importance of a well-functioning defence industry, supported by the NCACC as a regulatory and oversight body”. But it’s not all plain sailing ahead with the JSCD of the opinion despite progress it believes there is “significant room for expansion to capitalise on the growing global defence market”. A dissenting voice is that of Chris Hattingh. The Democratic Alliance (DA) Member of Parliament (MP) told DefenceWeb the NCACC is “selective in what it reports” adding there are “hundreds of applications still awaiting decisions”. Carl Niehaus, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) permanent representative on the Joint Standing Committee on Defence and the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans, said Friday’s NCACC report produced almost no usable information as it did not mention a single country-level or category-level breakdown that would allow the JSCD to test compliance with the law. “These quarterly briefings have been reduced to a box-ticking exercise,” he said, calling them a “deliberate frustration of parliamentary responsibility.” Niehaus also criticised the fact that no foreign on-location end-user verification inspections have been conducted for many years. “End-user certificates without verification are paper promises. The statutory mechanism designed to prevent diversion has been allowed to atrophy.” Worse still, Niehaus said, “is the dishonesty that now accompanies the dysfunction.” He pointed out that Ntshavheni publicly denied that the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) had instituted proceedings in the North Gauteng High Court seeking the suspension or cancellation of South African arms export permits issued in respect of the United States. She claimed that the matter had been withdrawn. “That claim is false,” Niehaus said. “The application, filed on 3 June 2026, remains live. SALC continues to pursue it. The respondents include the Chairperson of the NCACC. To stand before the public and assert that a matter still before the courts has been withdrawn is not a misunderstanding. It is a deliberate misrepresentation.” The EFF consequently plans to take the matter to Parliament’s Ethics Committee and to bring a charge against Ntshavheni.