Since the war in Yemen broke out in 2014, South African and global arms companies have cashed in on the sale of weapons to central parties to this conflict and humanitarian disaster. These firms have profited from the devastation of war and the resulting misery of Yemenis.
Since the war in Yemen broke out in 2014, South African and global arms companies have cashed in on the sale of weapons to parties who are central to this humanitarian disaster. These firms have profited from the devastation of war and the resulting misery of Yemenis.On the 3 March 2021, Open Secrets published Profiting from Misery: South Africa’s Complicity in War Crimes in Yemen. This report shows that Rheinmetall Denel Munitions (RDM) and other South African companies have regularly supplied Saudi Arabia and the UAE led coalition with weapons before and since the civil war started in Yemen.
Despite South Africa’s ban on arms exports to Israel and its condemnation of Israel’s actions in Palestine, local arms companies continue to send weapons to Israel’s allies and its major arms suppliers.
South Africa finds itself at the centre of severe criticism for having a approved arms exports worth about R9.2-billion to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) since 2015, when the two countries started their military invasion on Yemen.
eNCA Interview with Open Secrets’ Michael Marchant on the Yemen conflict
The High Court of South Africa, Gauteng Division: Pretoria has requested the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) to end delays in the review application relating to permits enabling weapons exports to Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
SaferWorld Domestic accountability for international arms transfers: Law, policy and practice 31 August 2021 | Open Secrets and SALC’s legal case to have the Gauteng High Court review the export of weapons to Saudi Arabia and the UAE has been included in Saferworld’s latest publication, Domestic accountability for international arms transfers: Law, policy and practice.…
ENCA | 17 June 2021 South Africa’s sale of weapons to countries actively involved in the war in Yemen could soon come to an end. For more, Annika Larsen speaks to Head of Investigation’s at Open Secrets Michael Marchant. Courtesy #DStv403
James De Villiers | News24 | 9 June 2021 The transparency non-profit organisation, Open Secrets, and the Southern African Litigation Centre (SALC) last week launched an urgent Gauteng High Court application in Pretoria to review the sale of weapons made in South Africa to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Saudi Arabia and…
Cape Talk | 17 June 2021 Refilwe speaks to Atilla Kisla International criminal justice lawyer at Southern Africa Litigation Centre.
Cape Talk | 17 June 2021 The Gauteng High Court has ruled that the names of companies and entities exporting arms and weapons to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, must now be made known, as these weapons are being used to carry out human atrocities in Yemen.The case was brought by the trustees of the…
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…
Karyn Maughan | News 24 | 15 June 2021 Open Secrets and the Southern African Litigation Centre have won a significant first victory in their legal campaign to block arms dealers in South Africa from selling weapons allegedly used against civilians in war-torn Yemen. The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday afternoon granted an…
SALC and Open Secrets, will be in the Pretoria high court on Tuesday afternoon over the government-issued permits that allow SA arms companies to export weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Atilla Kisla | Mail & Gaurdian | 7 June 2021 Following illegal and unethical arms trades to countries with very poor human rights records under apartheid, democratic South Africa established a legal framework so that the mistakes of the past would not repeat themselves. But 26 years later, the plan to implement a system that…
IOL | Loyiso Sidimba | 13 June 2021 Johannesburg – The government may be aiding and assisting the commission of an internationally wrongful act by selling millions of weapons worth billions of rands to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Southern African Litigation Centre (SALC) and Open Secrets have accused President Cyril…
10 June 2021 | Radio 786 – 100.4 FM | Non-profit organisation Open Secrets, and the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) has launched an urgent application in the North Gauteng High, seeking the names of all permit holders authorised to export arms to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Since 2017, Saudi Arabia stands accused of…
In this episode Open Secrets Zen Mathe and Mamello Mosiana talk about the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and the role of South Africa in supplying arms to parties to the conflict, namely Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Human Rights organisations ask the Courts to review decisions to export arms to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates
ENCA | 27 May 2021 Michael Marchant, a researcher at Open Secrets, spoke with eNCA’s Morena Mothupi.
18 May 2021 | Hensoldt, like Rheinmetall, has extensive operations in South Africa. A call on the German government to ensure that German parent companies comply with the country’s ban on the export of arms to Saudi Arabia at all offshore locations. At Hensoldt AG’s Annual General Meeting this year, the civil society organisations Urgewald…
The New Arab | Suraya Dadoo | 3 May 2021 As the country stood on the brink of democracy in November 1993, Nelson Mandela proudly promised that in the new South Africa human rights would be the “light that guides our foreign affairs.” However, decades later, South African-made weaponry has been deeply involved in the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.…
Aljazeera | Michael Marchant & Zen Mathe | 19 April 2021 The South African state has abandoned its commitment to human rights to profit from weapons deals. In so doing, it has become complicit in war crimes in Yemen. Democratic South Africa’s commitment to human rights has never been solely inward-looking. Its constitutional order was…
Defenceweb | 25 March 2021 | Smoke is rising from another apparent fire demanding the attention of Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, this time involving Denel associate company Rheinmetall Denel Munition (RDM). He has been asked for details of South Africa’s alleged involvement in the ongoing Yemen humanitarian crisis by Democratic Alliance (DA) parliamentarian Michele…
Sunday Times Live |Suraya Dadoo | 21 March 2021 | As the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) continues to approve weapons sales to countries engaged in war crimes in Yemen, SA’s arms industry bears a shocking similarity to its apartheid-era past. A new investigation by South African civil society group Open Secrets has laid…
Salaamedia | 19 March 2021 Is South Africa putting profits before #Yemeni lives in Yemen’s civil war? Zen Mathe, Researcher at Open Secrets, takes a closer look. #IftarDrive #Ramadan
Power Talk | 19 March | In this next segment, we look at a piece co-written by Zen Mathe which reports that South Africa has abandoned its commitment to human rights in exchange for the chance to profit from weapon deals. This in turn has made us complicit in war crimes in Yemen. Lukhona Mnguni…
Daily Maverick and Open Secrets | 3 March 2021 | It may seem to many people in South Africa that what is happening in war-torn Yemen is a tragedy unfolding far away without any direct connection to us, and with little we can do. This is not true. This report reveals that, since the war…
Newzroom Afrika | 7 March 2021 | An explosive report by Open Secrets has revealed that when civil war broke out in Yemen in early 2015, South African arms companies exported weapons to Saudi Arabi and the UAE worth billions of rands. Newzroom Afrika speaks to Open Secrets researcher, Zen Mathe and human rights lawyer,…
etv | 4 March 2021 | An investigation has lifted the lid on South Africa’s possible involvement, in gross human rights violations in Yemen. Details are contained in a new report called “Profiting from Misery”, put together by the NPO, Open Secrets. It has reportedly found that state-owned arms manufacturer, Denel and others, sold weapons…
Breakfast with Refilwe Moloto | Cape Talk | 5 March 2021 Michael Marchant of Open Secrets talks to Refilwe Moloto about an investigation that shows South African arms companies are selling weapons to those waging war on Yemenis for nearly a decade.
SABC News | 5 March 2021| A new Open Secrets investigative report, Profiting from Misery: South Africa’s Complicity in War Crimes in Yemen reveals the South African arms companies that have cashed in on the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates two central parties to the Yemeni conflict. For more,…
Salaamedia | 4 March 2021| Salaamedia’s Inayet Wadee speaks to Open Secrets’ researcher Michael Marchant about the role of South African and German arms corporations in the Yemen war. Read Profiting from Misery: South Africa’s Complicity in War Crimes in Yemen
New Open Secrets report says South Africans should demand an end to the flow of weapons to this tragedy.
The Voice of the Cape | 3 March 2021 | Since the outbreak six years ago of regionalised war in Yemen that has resulted in humanitarian crisis, South African arms companies have profited from the sale of weapons to parties central to the conflict.This is according to investigations by NPO Open Secrets.Online for comment is…
Weapons produced in South Africa are awash in Yemen and being used by numerous parties in that war, says a report by Open Secrets.
On the 3rd of March 2021, Open Secrets will be launching a new investigative report containing devastating findings about private sector profiteering. To receive news of the live launch and the report, sign up to our mailing list here
Unaccountable 00005: National Conventional Arms Control Committee – handmaiden to human rights abuse? By Caryn Dolley and Zen Mathe South Africa’s arms trade regulator has failed in its mandate to monitor the export of weapons to countries that, among other things, abuse human rights, or wage war against their own citizens. This begs the question,…
Unaccountable 0004: Rheinmetall Denel Munition: Murder and mayhem in Yemen By Zen Mathe & Caryn Dolley Companies with South African links have been allowed to supply Saudi Arabia and its allies with weapons — despite the humanitarian destruction the war in Yemen has wrought. Yemen is at the epicentre of a regionalised civil war. Over…
