21 July 1997

The FXI strongly condemns the move by the Denel arms manufacturer to resort to apartheid-era secrecy legislation to withhold information on a R7 billion arms deal with an as yet undisclosed Middle Eastern country. The FXI also welcomes the decision by Independent Newspapers to challenge the move by Denel.

The FXI regards the move by Denel as going against the spirit and purport of the Constitution which provides for the right of access to information in addition to imposing obligations of transparent and accountable governance. We view the move by Denel as an unacceptable attempt on its part to engage with impunity in dealings that can involve the well-being of other nations and people and therefore demand that they immediately cease in their bid to withhold information from the public on their dealings.

The FXI feels strongly that arms deals, particularly if they are conducted for and on behalf of this country, should be subject to public scrutiny to allow the public to fully inform themselves of the ethics and responsibilities involved in such deals. Bearing in mind that the arms trade involves the sale of weapons of mass destruction which can easily be used by governments for purposes of internal repression and external aggression, the FXI believes it is correct for the public to hold the government accountable for the arms transactions conducted on its behalf. As such the public also has a right know which countries benefit from the arms trade with South Africa.

The FXI is of the view that good foreign policy supports disclosure, particularly in the case of armaments transactions. Disclosure in this regard serves to dispel any speculation about illegal activities which, as a result of non-disclosure, may end up harming our international image.
For Denel to argue against disclosure on the basis that the client is demanding secrecy leads to a presumption that the client may want the weapons for some secret or underhand activity, which South Africa cannot be seen to be supporting.

The FXI fully supports the various rulings by the Cameron Commission demanding greater transparency and accountability in armaments transaction. Among the Commission’s findings in its first report were that:

"The public has a right to know as much as is reasonably and practically possible about armaments transactions. This is not only an intrinsic right in a society committed to openness and democracy - which the Constitution proclaims - it is also an important instrument in furthering the human rights concerns, both locally and internationally, which underlie our new constitutional order."

"The Commission was told that diplomacy and arms transactions require a measure of secrecy: yet it is precisely secrecy that creates the conditions for subterfuge, duplicity, abuse of power, corruption, malpractice and irresponsibility. The right of the public to know, where reasonable and practicable, had therefore to be asserted."

Mindful of these findings, the FXI rejects Denel’s argument for secrecy on the basis of client confidentiality and the fact that disclosure may jeopardise the deal. The FXI finds it hard to believe that Denel was not mindful of these findings as well as the spirit and purport of our constitution ahead of its dealings with its respective clients. As such,  Denel’s argument appears as nothing more than an attempt to violate the findings and recommendations of the Cameron Commission and the Constitutional provisions of open and transparent governance.

The FXI accepts that there may be exception to the disclosure of information relating to the arms trade, but these have to be limited to arguments that are "reasonable" and "justifiable in an open and democratic society based on freedom and equality". We further believe that these limitations on disclosure cannot extend to information which is already in the public domain. The actions by Denel therefore to pursue charges against newspapers and a journalists because of information which they have disclosed and which they have at their disposal serves to criminalise the actions of investigative journalists and media and as such is in contravention of the Constitutional guarantees of media freedom.

The law which Denel has cited in its charges against the three newspapers and journalist who published details of the transaction, the 1968 Armaments Development and Production Act, is one of the laws which is to come under review in terms of the yet-to-be-passed Open Democracy Act. In view of Denel’s action we call on the government to urgently pass  the Open Democracy Act to ensure that the media in future are able to fully execute their function of keeping the public informed and keeping institutions such as Denel, who conduct transactions on behalf of this country, fully accountable for their actions.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT JANE DUNCAN AT (011) 403-8403/648-5264 OR RAASHIED GALANT AT (011) 403-8403/082-9202264.