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The Democratic Alliance (DA) believes that Jeff Radebe, Chairperson of the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC), should be summoned by Parliament to present a strategy to stop the administrative meltdown of the NCACC.

A confidential report, prepared by the South African Aerospace, Maritime and Defence Association, reportedly provides clear evidence of an administrative meltdown in the NCACC.

The findings in the confidential report purportedly identify a variety of major problems within the Directorate of Conventional Arms Control (DCAC), including:

errors on permits issued, including the names of importing countries and the dates for which permits are valid;
permits being issued to the wrong companies and permits being misplaced;
a lack of specialised personnel and an obsolete computer system.

The NCACC is clearly in deep trouble, which not only prejudices industry, whose members are sometimes forced to wait months for permit applications to be processed, but also increases the risk of dodgy arms deals falling through the cracks at the NCACC.

The DA will therefore write to Jerome Maake, Chairperson of the Joint Standing Committee on Defence, calling on him to schedule a further hearing with NCACC chairperson Jeff Radebe in order to:

brief the committee on the administrative problems within the NCACC; and
present a turnaround strategy to solve the problems within the NCACC.

Parliament has a responsibility to ensure that the conventional arms control regime functions efficiently so that industry is not prejudiced and dodgy arms deals do not fall through the cracks at the NCACC.