Why is South Africa selling sniper rifles to a repressive regime like Turkmenistan?

10 September 2014

I will request the Chairperson of the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC), Jeff Radebe, to order an investigation into inter alia the sale, of 50 sniper riles, worth R 5 225 500, to Turkmenistan, one of the most repressive regimes in the world.

The NCACC must, according to legislation regulating conventional arms sales, "avoid transfers of conventional arms to governments that systematically violate or suppress human rights and fundamental freedoms".

However, the 2014 National Conventional Arms Control Committee Second Quarterly Report (01 April 2014 to 30 June 2014) reveals that 50 sniper rifles, worth R5 225 500, were exported to Turkmenistan.

Human Rights Watch's world report for 2014 states that: 

"Turkmenistan remains one of the world's most repressive countries. The country is virtually closed to independent scrutiny, media and religious freedoms are subject to draconian restrictions, and human rights defenders and other activists face the constant threat of government reprisal. The government continues to use imprisonment as a tool for political retaliation."

This is not the first controversial sale of sniper rifles: the NCACC authorised the sale of approximately 100 sniper rifles and more than 50 000 rounds of ammunition to Libya in 2010.

The 2014 National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) Second Quarterly Report reveals a number of other highly questionable conventional arms sales including the sale of: 

13 armoured combat vehicles, worth R44 404 802, to Equatorial Guinea; and

2 airborne observation systems, worth R16 612 170, to the Russian Federation.

I will, therefore, request the Chairperson of the NCACC, Jeff Radebe, to order the committee's inspectorate to conduct a full-blown investigation into the sale of the: 

50 sniper rifles, worth R5 225 500, to Turkmenistan.

armoured combat vehicles, worth R44 404 802, to Equatorial Guinea; and

2 airborne observation systems, worth R16 612 170, to the Russian Federation.

Statement issued by David Maynier MP, DA Shadow Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, September 10 2014

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