South Africa
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary: State Party South Africa ratified the convention on 28 May 2015. It has not indicated if it will undertake implementing legislation for the convention. South Africa has participated in all of the convention’s meetings and has condemned new use of cluster munitions, including in Syria. It voted in favor of a UN resolution on the convention in December 2015.
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, ratified on 28 May 2015, and theconvention entered into force for the country on 1 November 2015.
South Africa has not indicated if it intends to enact implementing legislation to enforce the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[1] The National Council of Provinces approved South Africa’s ratification of the convention on 18 November 2014.[2] This followed a report issued on 16 October 2014 and approval by the National Assembly on 12 March 2014.[3]
As of 27 June 2016, South Africa had not submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the convention, which was due by 29 April 2016.
South Africa participated throughout the Oslo Process that created the convention and its policy evolved to support a comprehensive ban on cluster munitions.[4] It hosted a regional meeting on cluster munitions in Pretoria in March 2010.
South Africa participated as a State Party in the First Review Conference of the convention in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015 and addressed the high-level segment of the meeting. It has attended every Meeting of States Parties of the convention as well as intersessional meetings in Geneva in 2011–2015. It has attended regional workshops on the convention, most recently in Kampala, Uganda on 21 May 2015.[5]
South Africa voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 7 December 2015, which urges states outside the convention to “join as soon as possible.”[6]
At the UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security in October 2015, South Africa expressed its conviction that cluster munitions “have not only become obsolete as weapons of modern warfare, but that their recent use in conflicts have shown them to cause unacceptable harm to civilians, even long after the cessation of active hostilities.” It proposed that states “redouble our efforts to convince and bring into the fold those that have yet to accede to the Convention, particularly the major users and producers of cluster munitions.”[7]
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.”[8]
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.
In August 2015, campaigners marked the fifth anniversary of the convention’s entry into force with an event that launched a new civil society effort called the International Disarmament Initiative of South Africa.[9]
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.[10] 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.[11]
Iraq is reported to have acquired the CB-470 in the late 1980s.[12] Deminers in Zambia and Mozambique have encountered unexploded Alpha submunitions.[13]
Stockpiling and destruction
South Africa has not yet revealed information on the numbers and types of cluster munitions stockpiled.[14] It stated in 2010 that it “has a relatively small stockpile of obsolete cluster munitions that have already been earmarked for destruction.”[15] South Africa’s Secretary of Defence in 2014, described the planned stockpile destruction as a “relatively easy task” that was estimated to cost R2 million or approximately US$156,000.[16]
South Africa has acknowledged possessing a type of aerial cluster bomb called TIEKIE, which was degraded for training use only.[17]
Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, South Africa is required to declare and destroy all stockpiled cluster munitions under its jurisdiction or 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.[18]
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.[19]
[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] National Council of Provinces, “Minutes of Proceedings,” 18 November 2014.
[3] Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, “Announcements, Tablings, and Committee Reports,” 16 October 2014; and Republic of South Africa, “Minutes of Proceedings of National Assembly,” 12 March 2014.
[4] 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.
[5] CMC, “Kampala hosts East African Community countries on cluster bomb ban,” 21 May 2015.
[6] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 70/54, 7 December 2015.
[7] Statement of South Africa, UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, New York, 26 October 2015.
[8] Statement of South Africa, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 23 May 2013.
[9] CMC, “Campaigners celebrate the 5th anniversary of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” 12 August 2015.
[10] 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.
[11] 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.
[12] Robert Hewson, ed., Jane’s Air Launched Weapons, Issue 44 (Surrey, UK: Jane’s Information Group Limited, 2004), p. 440.
[13] 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.
[14] 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.
[15] Statement of South Africa, UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, 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.
[16] Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, “Committee requests action plan for assets,” February 2014.
[17] Communication from the South African Delegation to the Conference on Disarmament to Pax Christi Netherlands, 19 January 2005.
[18] Telephone interview with Col. Corrie Fierrara, Department of Defence, 20 July 2011.
[19] Interview with Col. Nigel Aspey, Department of Defence, Pretoria, 7 April 2011.