South Africa
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary: State Party South Africa ratified the convention on 28 May 2015. It has not indicated if specific implementing legislation will be enacted for the convention. South Africa has participated in every meeting of the convention and condemned new use of cluster munitions. It voted in favor of a key UN resolution on the convention in December 2016.
South Africa produced and used cluster munitions in the past and possesses a stockpile that it has pledged to destroy. It must provide information on the types and quantities of its cluster munitions by submitting an initial transparency report for the convention.
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 will enact implementing legislation to enforce the convention’s provisions.[1] The National Council of Provinces approved South Africa’s ratification of the convention on 18 November 2014.[2]
As of 30 June 2017, 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.[3] It hosted a regional meeting on cluster munitions in Pretoria in March 2010.
South Africa has participated in every Meeting of States Parties of the convention, including the Sixth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2016. It attended the convention’s First Review Conference in 2015 as a State Party and participated in intersessional meetings in 2011–2015. South Africa has attended regional workshops on the convention, most recently in Kampala, Uganda, in May 2015.[4]
In December 2016, South Africa voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution promoting implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[5] South Africa also voted in favor of the first UNGA resolution on the convention in December 2015.[6]
At the UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security in October 2016, South Africa called on states that have not yet done so to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions as soon as possible and condemn the use of cluster munitions.[7]
South Africa has condemned the use of cluster munitions in Syria several times since May 2013, when it stated “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 not elaborated its views on several important issues relating to its 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 little to no public information available on South Africa’s past use of cluster munitions.
South Africa produced cluster munitions in the past.[9] South African company Denel manufactured artillery cluster munitions and air-dropped cluster bombs, including the CB-470 aerial cluster bomb containing 40 Alpha submunitions, which was apparently produced only for export. Denel also produced the M2001 155mm artillery projectile, containing 42 dual-purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM) submunitions with self-destruct devices.[10]
Iraq reportedly acquired the CB-470 in the late 1980s.[11] Deminers in Zambia and Mozambique have encountered unexploded Alpha submunitions.[12]
South Africa has acknowledged possessing a type of aerial cluster bomb called TIEKIE, which was degraded for training use only.[13]
Stockpiling
South Africa has not revealed information on the quantities and types of its stockpiled cluster munitions as it has yet to provide its transparency report for the convention.[14] In September 2016, South Africa stated that it has a “small stockpile of aircraft-delivered cluster bombs and artillery-delivered cluster shells.”[15]
Stockpile destruction
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 September 2016, South Africa informed States Parties that its cluster munition stocks have been taken out of commission and “ring-fenced for planned disposal.” It said it hoped to provide information on the stockpile and begin to destroy it in the coming months.[16]
South Africa’s Department of Defence first informed the Monitor in 2011 that a plan was being prepared to destroy South Africa’s stockpiled cluster munitions.[17]
In 2014, South Africa’s Secretary of Defence described the planned stockpile destruction as a “relatively easy task” that would cost an estimated R2 million (approximately US$156,000).[18]
A Department of Defence official indicated in 2011 that South Africa may retain inert cluster munition casings for training purposes, but a formal decision had not been taken.[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. This followed a report issued on 16 October 2014 and approval by the National Assembly on 12 March 2014. See, 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.
[3] 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.
[4] CMC, “Kampala hosts East African Community countries on cluster bomb ban,” 21 May 2015.
[5] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 71/45, 5 December 2016.
[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, 4 October 2016; and statement of South Africa, UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, New York, 20 October 2016.
[8] Statement of South Africa, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 23 May 2013.
[9] 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.
[10] 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.
[11] Robert Hewson, ed., Jane’s Air Launched Weapons, Issue 44 (Surrey, UK: Jane’s Information Group Limited, 2004), p. 440.
[12] 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.
[13] Communication from the South African Delegation to the Conference on Disarmament to Pax Christi Netherlands, 19 January 2005.
[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, Convention on Cluster Munitions Sixth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, September 2016.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Telephone interview with Col. Corrie Fierrara, Department of Defence, 20 July 2011.
[18] Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, “Committee requests action plan for assets,” February 2014.
[19] Interview with Col. Nigel Aspey, Department of Defence, Pretoria, 7 April 2011.