Top lawyers in bid to halt Zimbabwe arms shipment

Nicole Fritz, of the SA Litigation Centre in Johannesburg, confirmed that an associate professor of international law on the Durban campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Max du Plessis, and an expert in Maritime Commercial Law and member of the Durban Bar, Angus Stewart, were last night consulting with Advocate Malcolm Wallace SC, with a view to bringing the application on behalf of concerned citizens. According to a report in The Witness it is understood the application will be brought in terms of SA’s Constitution and international law. Fritz said she did not expect any evidential problems in establishing there is a crisis in Zimbabwe in view of public statements to that effect by senior SA government officials. Meanwhile, Defence secretary January Masilela, the National Conventional Arms Control Committee’s (NCACC) scrutiny committee, which he chairs, approved the conveyance permit on Monday. He said an inspection team from the NCACC will still have to ensure that the cargo meets the requirements of the permit before it can be transported to Zimbabwe. The permit will be endorsed by the NCACC when it meets next month. Full report in The Witness

The furore over the 70 tons of Chinese weapons destined for Zimbabwe deepened yesterday, with the government saying it could not impose a unilateral embargo on the arms, and the DA warning they would be used against civilians. Last night, the SARS said the vessel was at outer anchorage, or off port limits, and therefore ‘the cargo is not deemed to have been imported into SA yet’. Chief government spokesperson Themba Maseko said that in the absence of any embargo against Zimbabwe, SA would have to allow the arms passage across the country if all the paperwork was in order, says a Business Day report. Maseko said SA was not in a position to act unilaterally to stop a transaction between China and Zimbabwe. He said SA was simply a conduit for the trade and this in no way suggested that it favoured the deal or not. DA defence spokesperson Rafeek Shah said the ‘softly, softly’ attitude towards perhaps upsetting Zimbabwe ‘is the surest sign that the government has completely lost the plot’ on the Zimbabwe issue. ‘According to the National Conventional Arms Control Act, anyone who conveys, freights, or transfers conventional weapons is required to apply for a conveyance permit, and permits must be granted only by the NCACC after considering how those weapons will be used,’ he said. Full Business Day report