Franny Rabkin | Sunday Times | 15 June 2021
Court orders National Conventional Arms Control Committee to provide a list
A court on Tuesday ordered the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) to provide a list of South African arms companies that have permits to export arms to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — the first step in a longer court battle to stop the export of weapons to countries that NGOs say are fuelling the devastating conflict in Yemen.
The Southern African Human Rights Litigation Centre (SALC) and Open Secrets, a non-profit organisation investigating economic crime, said in their court papers that the war in Yemen has been described as the “world’s worst humanitarian crisis”. Yet SA has, since 2016, exported more than 20% of its arms to countries involved — in breach of the law and the constitution.
