wfn.org | S African needs co-ordinated policy on arms

[Theo Coggin, tel: +2711-648-5461 / +2711-487-0026]

e-mail: coggin@sn.apc.org

The South African government has been called on to establish a National
Policy Unit to coordinate major national issues affecting the welfare of
people, including the wisdom of selling arms, to bring about peace with
development in South Africa and in Africa as a whole. 

Making the call this afternoon during a panel discussion in Cape Town,
South Africa, on the question of military spending and poverty, the
Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, the Most Revd Njongonkulu Ndungane, 
said the South African government should  “seize the initiative from the
military and implement strategies that advance development, security and
peace”. 

No right-thinking person could deny the need for a co-ordinated approach
to issues such as  the need for defence, the application of the
country’s vast reservoirs of expertise and resources, and its
interdependence with other countries in Africa.

Archbishop Ndungane also called for the South African arms manufacturing
industry to be converted for peaceful purposes.

South Africa had inherited a huge arms industry which offered employment
to thousands of people.    In the process it had acquired technological
skills which it used in the manufacture of armaments. 

But it was now necessary for the South African government to commit
itself “to initiate a process of conversion of the arms industry from
military capacity to  civilian capacity.  

“This entails a shift of industrial, technological, training  and
scientific resources away from militarily  defined objectives towards
national needs like industrial renewal, environmental restoration,
sustainable agriculture and renewable energy sources,” the Archbishop
said.  

He emphasised that the church believed in job creation and wealth
creation. 

“But we cannot go along with the philosophy that says ‘jobs at any
cost’. There is a moral issue here. The death, terror and destruction
caused by the weapons we are producing can never justify the jobs
created to produce such arms.  We must use our skills for the social
upliftment of the people of Africa. We can make a difference if we use
our resources correctly.”

Turning to the call by Deputy President Thabo Mbeki for  an African
renaissance,  Archbishop Ndungane said one could not reconcile this with
the country’s willingness to sell arms to countries in which there is
conflict. 

He said: “We had hoped that the Cabinet Committee appointed to
scrutinise arms sales would have been far stricter in applying its
brief, but press reports on the sale of arms indicate the contrary.”

ends statement

Issued on behalf of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa by Quo
Vadis Communications

Media contact: Theo Coggin
	Telephone:	011 648 5461 or 082 900 0168

-- 
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 
I know that half my communications effort is wasted, the problem is I
don't know which half! - Viscount Leverhulme.

Tel: (011) 648-5461; (011) 487-0026
Fax: (011) 487-1994
Cell: 082-900-0168
e-mail: coggin@sn.apc.org

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *