South Africa exported deadly weapons to Zimbabwe at a time when it was virtually at war, unleashing savage attacks on the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. This is one of the shock disclosures in a document leaked to the Sunday Tribune, which the government has failed to make public. The report details South Africa's arms trade - including the "temporary export" of arms to Zimbabwe, which included "major conventional implements of war that could cause heavy personnel casualties."
The arms exports listed showed that "fighter aircraft, explosives, missiles, bombs, artillery guns (and) tanks" were among the items dispatched to our neighbouring country. Last year, a furore erupted when news broke of a permit issued by the committee to allow a Chinese ship to convey weapons to Zimbabwe via South Africa. However, a court order prevented the ship unloading. Whether the arms ever got to Zimbabwe via another African state remains unclear. Human Rights lobby group Freedom House, which ranked Zimbabwe "not free" in 2008, raised concerns that Zimbabwean security and military forces "abuse citizens with impunity".
The latest revelations come as the British government has effectively warned South Africa against providing Zimbabwe with weapons based on concerns about "internal repression". According to well-placed sources, authorisations for weapons trading were given under the signature of a functionary in the Defence Department, acting Defence Secretary Tsepe Motumi, the Defence Ministry's deputy director general for policy planning and strategy, after NCACC chairman and former minister Sydney Mufamadi apparently delegated his committee's responsibilities.
A week ago, the Tribune put written questions to Radebe's spokesman, Tlali Tlali, including "on what advice the "special mechanism" was developed and how many decisions were taken under this "mechanism"." Tlali refused to address the questions, saying, "I really do not want to have my fingers burned." He referred queries to the Defence Ministry's director of arms control, Dumisani Dladla, who refused to answer any questions.
Source: IoL
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