South Africa
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Five-Year Review: State Party South Africa ratified the convention on 28 May 2015 and theconvention will enter into force for the country on 1 November 2015. South Africa has participated in all of the convention’s meetings and has condemned new use of cluster munitions, including in Syria. South Africa used and produced cluster munitions in the past and possesses a stockpile.
Policy
The Republic of South Africa signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 28 May 2015. The convention will enter into force for South Africa on 1 November 2015.
South Africa’s initial Article 7 transparency report for the convention is due by 29 April 2016.
It is unclear if South Africa will enact implementing legislation to enforce the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[1]
On 11 November 2013, the Minister of Defense and Military Veterans introduced legislation to ratify the convention in parliament.[2] The next day the National Assembly referred the draft legislation to the Portfolio Committee on Defense and Military Veterans for review.[3] The committee issued a report on 26 February 2014 that recommended South Africa’s ratification of the convention.[4] The National Assembly voted to approve the recommended ratification on 12 March 2014.[5] The Select Committee on Security and Constitutional Development then considered the draft legislation at the request of the National Council of Provinces.[6] It issued a report on 16 October 2014 that recommended South Africa’s ratification of the convention.[7] The National Council of Provinces adopted the report on 18 November 2014, with all nine provincial delegations voting in favor of ratification.[8]
South Africa’s Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, Ambassador Jeremiah Nyamane Kingsley, deposited the instrument of ratification on 28 May 2015.
South Africa announced its ratification of the convention at the intersessional meetings in June 2015, where it stated that as a former producer of cluster munitions, it views these weapons as “obsolete” and expressed concern at reports of new cluster munition use.[9]
South Africa participated throughout the Oslo Process that created the convention and its policy evolved to support a comprehensive ban on cluster munitions.[10] It hosted a regional meeting on cluster munitions in Pretoria in March 2010.
South Africa engages in the work of the convention. It has participated in every Meeting of States Parties to the convention, including the Fifth Meeting of States Parties in San Jose, Costa Rica in September 2014. South Africa has attended all of the convention’s intersessional meetings held in Geneva since 2011. It has participated in regional workshops on the convention, most recently in Kampala, Uganda on 21 May 2015.[11]
At the UN General Assembly (UNGA) First Committee on Disarmament and International Security in October 2014, South Africa challenged states “to condemn any use of cluster munitions.”[12]
South Africa has condemned the use of cluster munitions in Syria several times since May 2013, when it informed a regional meeting that “we deplore any use of cluster munitions by any State including the alleged recent use of cluster munitions in Syria, which has led to a number of casualties including women and children.”[13]
South Africa has yet to elaborate its views on several important issues relating to interpretation and implementation of the convention, including the prohibition on transit, the prohibition on assistance during joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions, the prohibition on foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions, and the prohibition on investment in production of cluster munitions.
South Africa is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, and transfer
There is no public information on South Africa’s past use of cluster munitions.
South Africa produced cluster munitions in the past.[14] South African company Denel produced artillery cluster munitions and air-dropped cluster bombs, including the CB-470 aerial cluster bomb containing 40 Alpha submunitions, which is believed to have been produced for export purposes only. Denel also produced the M2001 155mm artillery projectile, containing 42 dual-purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM) submunitions with self-destruct devices.[15]
Iraq is reported to have acquired the CB-470 in the late 1980s.[16] Deminers in Zambia and Mozambique have encountered unexploded Alpha submunitions.[17]
Stockpiling and destruction
South Africa has not yet revealed information on the numbers and types of cluster munitions stockpiled.[18] South Africa has stated that it “has a relatively small stockpile of obsolete cluster munitions that have already been earmarked for destruction.”[19] In February 2014, South Africa’s secretary of defence described the planned destruction of the stockpile as a “relatively easy task” and estimated the destruction cost at R2 million or approximately US$156,000.[20]
South Africa has acknowledged possessing a type of aerial cluster bomb called TIEKIE, which was degraded for training use only.[21]
Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, South Africa is required to declare and destroy all stockpiled cluster munitions under its jurisdiction and control as soon as possible, but no later than 1 November 2023.
In July 2011, a Department of Defence official informed the Monitor that a plan is being prepared to destroy South Africa’s stockpile of cluster munitions, including the timeframe and method for destruction as well as estimated financial cost.[22]
Retention
A Department of Defence official indicated in April 2011 that South Africa may retain “a relatively small stockpile” of cluster munitions for training purposes, but clarified that only inert cluster munition casings would be retained and not the explosive content.[23]
[1] In 2009, the Department of Foreign Affairs said that existing legislation to implement the Mine Ban Treaty would likely serve as the “principal guideline” when South Africa prepares national legislation for the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The Anti-Personnel Mines Prohibition Act 2003 prohibits South African forces from assisting a state not party to the Mine Ban Treaty with any activity prohibited under the treaty and includes “transit” under its definition of transfers. Letter from Xolisa Mabhongo, Chief Director, UN (Political), Department of Foreign Affairs, 12 March 2009.
[2] Parliament, Announcements, Tablings and Committee Reports, 11 November 2013, p. 5789.
[3] National Assembly, Proceedings of the National Assembly, 12 November 2013, p. 256.
[4] Parliament, Announcements, Tablings and Committee Reports, 26 February 2014, p. 388.
[5] National Assembly, Minutes of Proceedings, 12 March 2014, pp. 831–832.
[6] Parliament, Announcements, Tablings and Committee Reports, 25 March 2014, p. 1918.
[7] Parliament, Announcements, Tablings and Committee Reports, 16 October 2014, p. 1327.
[8] National Council of Provinces, Minutes of Proceedings, 18 November 2014, p. A88.
[9] Statement of South Africa, Convention on Cluster Munitions Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, 23 June 2015. Notes by Human Rights Watch (HRW).
[10] For details on South Africa’s policy and practice regarding cluster munitions through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 153–156.
[11] CMC, “Kampala hosts East African Community countries on cluster bomb ban,” 21 May 2015.
[12] Statement of South Africa, UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, New York, 22 October 2014.
[13] Statement of South Africa, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 23 May 2013.
[14] In 2005, the Department of Foreign Affairs stated, “The South African Defence Force has manufactured and used submunitions in the past, which have been phased out, and is in the process of developing newer generations of submunitions.” Communication from the South African Delegation to the Conference on Disarmament to Pax Christi Netherlands, 19 January 2005.
[15] Denel, “Land Systems, Artillery Systems, 155 mm Towed/SP Gun-Howitzer,” undated; and Leland S. Ness and Anthony G. Williams, eds., Jane’s Ammunition Handbook 2007–2008 (Surrey, UK: Jane’s Information Group Limited, 2007), p. 665. In 2005, South Africa stated that “in the 155mm product line, a back-up self-destruct pyrotechnical feature is incorporated into the fuze which separates the detonation train from the main charge.” Communication from the South African Delegation to the Conference on Disarmament to Pax Christi Netherlands, 19 January 2005.
[16] Robert Hewson, ed., Jane’s Air Launched Weapons, Issue 44 (Surrey, UK: Jane’s Information Group Limited, 2004), p. 440.
[17] Email from Dr. Robert E. Mtonga, Coordinator, Zambian Campaign to Ban Landmines, 10 February 2009. It is unclear what type of cluster munition was used to deliver the submunitions, who used them, or when, but the Alpha submunition is most often associated with the South African CB-470 cluster bomb. Statement of Mozambique, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 15 September 2011. Jane’s Information Group reports that the Alpha bomblet developed for the South African CB-470 cluster bomb was produced by Rhodesia (the predecessor of Zimbabwe), and that “Zimbabwe may have quantities of the Alpha bomblet.” Robert Hewson, ed., Jane’s Air-Launched Weapons, Issue 44 (Surrey, UK: Jane’s Information Group Limited, 2004), p. 440.
[18] In 2005, South Africa asserted that “details of reliability and functioning of the current generations of submunitions in the South African arsenal are classified, suffice to say that reliability for submunitions to function as intended is currently better than 98% and at a confidence level of better than 95%.” Communication from the South African Delegation to the Conference on Disarmament to Pax Christi Netherlands, 19 January 2005.
[19] Statement of South Africa, UN Thematic Debate on Conventional Weapons, New York, 18 October 2010. In December 2008, South Africa also said that a “relatively small stockpile of outdated cluster munitions” had been “earmarked for destruction.” See, statement by Charles Nqakula, Minister of Defence, Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference, Oslo, 3 December 2008.
[20] Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, “Committee requests action plan for assets,” February 2014.
[21] Communication from the South African Delegation to the Conference on Disarmament to Pax Christi Netherlands, 19 January 2005.
[22] Telephone interview with Col. Corrie Fierrara, Department of Defence, 20 July 2011.
[23] Interview with Col. Nigel Aspey, Department of Defence, Pretoria, 7 April 2011.