Ivor Powell Abattle is developing between the government and Parliament as the state prepares a package of new laws to remove checks and balances introduced in the armaments industry to prevent corruption. If accepted, the already tabled Conventional Arms Control Bill and the draft Armscor Bill and Defence Related Industries legislation will allow the government to operate without parliamentary accountability when buying and selling weapons. Democratically motivated checks and balances from the Mandela era would effectively be thrown out of the window, as would key recommendations made by the Cameron commission into corruption in the weapons industry. Expressing concern, Democratic Alliance defence representative Hennie Smit said his party would resist any sign that the government was trying to remove parliamentary oversight mechanisms. “We are always concerned when things are put under the blanket,” Smit said. “But we would be especially worried if there were attempts to do away with the oversight role of the joint standing committee. That is something that is written into the Constitution.” The proposed laws would also have the effect of giving carte blanche to the Ministry of Defence’s controversial directorate of acquisitions and procurement. Acquisitions and procurement director Shamin (Chippy) Shaik stands at the centre of allegations into alleged corruption in last year’s R32-billion weapons purchases. The tangled allegations are centred on two outfits which stand to make billions out of the defence industry; procurement and logistics outfit Futuristic Business Solutions and its partly owned subsidiary African Defence Systems. Shaik’s wife works at African Defence Systems, where his brother is a director. Futuristic Business Solutions is going into partnership with another company, Log-Tek, whose chair is a serving director of Armscor. Defence sources said the proposed legislation could further entrench a new economic elite of former Umkhonto we Sizwe guerrillas which are allegedly being foisted as local partners on overseas bidders for arms contracts. The new package would also reduce the status of the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC), which was established under the chairship of Minister of Education Kader Asmal to oversee Armscor and the weapons trade. The NCACC was established on ethical principles, prohibiting trade with countries involved in conflict situations or where those weapons could be used in the suppression of human rights. In the new Conventional Arms Control Bill, the NCACC will be constrained only to “implement government policy regarding conventional arms control”, without reference to its own founding declaration. Approached by the Mail & Guardian, Asmal’s adviser Alan Taylor confirmed the NCACC chair had concerns about the Bill. “As far as the minister is concerned the Conventional Arms Control Bill is still up for discussion,” Taylor said. “He will be taking up the matter at hearings before the portfolio committee in September.” The M&G has learned that at a meeting in Pretoria this month Parliament’s portfolio committee refused to endorse the defence secretariat’s draft for upcoming legislation on defence-related industries. In what one member of the portfolio committee described as “attempted skulduggery, pure and simple”, the defence secretariat’s draft was presented in the form of a White Paper as though it had already been approved by parliamentary working groups, despite not having been debated by the portfolio committee. The draft legislation seeks to transfer the marketing functions of defence parastatal Armscor to the defence ministry via its acquistions and procurement directorate. The ministry would also be responsible for approving Armscor’s budgets and for licensing weapons dealers and manufacturers. This would give virtually total control over the weapons industry to the ministry, with Armscor relegated to a purely technical function.
This develops themes already laid out in the Armscor Bill – which was contested on the basis that it excluded even the NCACC from a meaningful role in the weapons trade. Alleged corruption in the weapons deals is the subject of continuing investigations by the auditor general as well as the Heath special investigating unit. The M&G has learned that defence ministry inquiries are also in progress, after Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota expressed concern. Lekota has reportedly indicated he will consult President Thabo Mbeki with a view to further action on the issue.