Alan Morris and Stefaans Brummer
IN the new South Africa, the military-industrial=20 complex should expect to find it a lot harder to=20 operate in the covert, money-is-no-object manner of the=20
The government set up the Cameron Commission to=20 investigate the industry after a large consignment of=20 South African rifles and ammunition was found in a=20 cargo ship headed for Yemen, a country in the throes of=20 civil war. The state arms acquisition and marketing=20 agency, Armscor, claims it was misled about the real=20
First signs that Armscor and the industry do not wield=20 the power they used to is the dropping of the “space=20 programme”, the decline “in the funds available for=20 defence projects”, and the failure, for now, of the=20 defence ministry to persuade Cabinet that R1,8-billion=20 should be spent to buy patrol corvettes.
Historically, the arms industry has been one of the=20 developed sectors of South African manufacturing — in=20 fact, it is said to be the one of the top creators of=20 added-on value in the South African economy. The arms=20 embargo imposed during the apartheid years and the=20 enormous power of the military within the apartheid=20 government ensured a great deal of resources, both=20 material and intellectual, were devoted to building the=20
In 1992, the company Denel was separated from Armscor=20 as a state-owned group which functions under the=20 Companies Act, and the bulk of manufacturing concerns=20 were transferred to it.=20
Weapon production focused on a range of items,=20 including missiles, helicopters, rifles, armoured=20 vehicles and long-range cannon. Two hundred South=20 African-made and supplied G5 cannon were used by Iraq=20 during the Gulf War.=20
The bulk of the arms manufactured by Denel and its=20 subsidiaries are bought locally by the South African=20 National Defence Force. Yet South Africa exported R900- million-worth of arms in 1994. In global terms this is=20 a small amount — less than one percent of the world’s=20 arms trade.=20
Yet it makes Denel one of South Africa’s biggest=20 exporters in the manufacturing sector.=20
Dr John Maree, chairperson of Denel, states in Denel’s=20 1994/95 annual report that the South African arms=20 industry has been hampered severely in its drive to=20 expand its export market by United States-imposed=20 “trade restrictions on Denel as a result of an=20 unresolved court case against the South African=20
Maree claims this is not only affects Denel’s trade=20 with the US but “also negatively affects trade with=20 other countries”.=20
The court case stems from Armscor’s illegal stake in=20 deals involving US military equipment during the arms=20 embargo. =20
Despite these restrictions on trade, and the “decline=20 in (government) funds for defence projects”, Denel=20 managed to increase its turnover from R2,8-billion in=20 1994 to R3-billion in 1995. =20
The destiny of South African arms exports is unclear.=20 At present there is controversy over the alleged supply=20 of arms to the exiled Rwandan Hutu government in=20 defiance of the United Nations arms embargo on arms=20 deliveries to the region. — AIA=20
Johan Alberts, managing director of Denel, argued last=20 week that this type of transaction, which he blames on=20 “loose cannons”, should they occurr at all, did more to=20 harm the South African defence industry than the=20 limited profits to be made from such deals. “If the=20 government says ‘don’t supply to those countries’, or=20 if it is against the United Nations, I will not supply.=20 Then you are a skunk.”
Jacklyn Cock, professor of sociology at the University=20 of Witwatersrand, argues that deals like Rwanda is a=20 continuation of the “arms industry’s total absence of=20 morality”. In the past, customers included Chile under=20 Pinochet, Renamo, Unita and the Khmer Rouge in=20 Cambodia. Denel recently concluded a major contract=20 with Oman for artillery systems.
A submission by Cock to the Cameron Commission argues=20 that a long-term aim of “the South African government=20 should (be to) prohibit all further exports of arms and=20 related material from South Africa”. =20
In the meantime, the arms industry should “avoid all=20 weapons sales to regions of political and military=20 instability” and to “participate fully in the annual UN=20 Register of Conventional Arms, documenting arms imports=20 and exports”.=20