South Africa
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary
State Party South Africa ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 28 May 2015. It has participated in every meeting of the convention, most recently attending the intersessional meetings held in May 2022. South Africa voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2021.
South Africa produced and imported cluster munitions in the past. It has reported a stockpile of 1,495 cluster munitions and 99,465 submunitions, of which it destroyed 139 cluster munitions and 78,994 submunitions in 2012. South Africa’s deadline to destroy its remaining cluster munition stocks is 1 November 2023.
Policy
The Republic of South Africa signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified it on 28 May 2015. It became a State Party on 1 November 2015.
South Africa regards its Anti-Personnel Mines Prohibition Act as sufficient to enforce the provisions of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[1] The National Council of Provinces enacted ratification legislation for the convention in November 2014.[2]
South Africa submitted an initial Article 7 transparency report for the convention on 8 September 2017.[3] As of August 2022, it has still not provided an updated report, which is due by 30 April each year.[4]
South Africa participated in the Oslo Process that created the convention, and its policy evolved to support a comprehensive ban on cluster munitions.[5] It hosted a regional meeting on the convention in Pretoria in March 2010.
South Africa has participated in every meeting of the convention, including the Second Review Conference held in November 2020 and September 2021.[6] Most recently, it attended the convention’s intersessional meetings in May 2022.
In December 2021, South Africa voted in favor of a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that urged all States Parties to provide “complete and timely information” to promote transparency and comply with the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[7] South Africa has voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.
South Africa has not elaborated its views on several important issues related to the interpretation and implementation of the convention, including the prohibitions on transit, assistance during joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions, foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions, and investment in the 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 (CCW).
Use
The South African Defence Force used cluster munitions in the past, but there is little public information available on the circumstances or location.[8]
Production
South Africa produced cluster munitions in the past.[9] The South African company Denel manufactured two types of air-dropped bombs:
- The CB-470 aerial cluster bomb containing 40 Alpha submunitions, which was apparently produced only for export; and
- A 255kg aircraft bomb, containing 247 submunitions.
Denel also manufactured two types of 155mm artillery projectiles:
- The M2001 155mm artillery projectile, containing 42 Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munition (DPICM) submunitions with self-destruct features;[10] and
- An M2001 155mm artillery projectile labeled “2201102,” which also contains 42 DPICM submunitions with self-destruct devices.
South Africa’s transparency report section on its decommissioning of production facilities states: “None. Production ceased in 2012 at Rheinmetall, denel [sic].”[11] This indicates that the production of cluster munitions at Denel’s facilities in South Africa apparently did not cease until 2012, four years after South Africa signed the convention in December 2008. As a signatory, South Africa is bound by the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties not to engage in acts that “would defeat the object and purpose” of any treaty it signed.
German company Rheinmetall Defence acquired four Denel divisions in 2008 and is the majority owner of Rheinmetall Denel Munition (Pty) Ltd. in South Africa, which still advertises 155mm artillery ammunition for sale.[12] Rheinmetall Denel Munition has never responded to a request to clarify whether it actually produced cluster munitions in 2008–2012.[13]
Transfer
South Africa has not commented on past exports and transfers of the cluster munitions that it produced, but the munitions have been seen in several countries. Chile and Peru have reported stockpiling Alpha submunitions. Iraq reportedly acquired the CB-470 in the late 1980s.[14] Demining operators in Mozambique and Zambia have cleared unexploded Alpha submunitions.[15]
Stockpiling
In 2017, South Africa reported a stockpile of 1,495 cluster munitions and 99,465 submunitions, comprised of two types of air-dropped bombs and two types of 155mm artillery projectiles, as shown in the following table.
Cluster munitions once stockpiled by South Africa[16]
|
Type |
Cluster munitions |
Submunitions |
|
225kg aircraft bomb, each containing 247 submunitions |
179 |
44,213 |
|
2201104: 155mm artillery projectile, each containing 42 submunitions |
436 |
18,312 |
|
2201102: 155mm artillery projectile, each containing 42 submunitions |
870 |
36,540 |
|
CB-470 aircraft bomb, each containing 40 submunitions |
10 |
400 |
|
Total |
1,495 |
99,465 |
Stockpile destruction
Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, South Africa is required to destroy all stockpiled cluster munitions under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but no later than 1 November 2023.
The current status of South Africa’s stockpile destruction efforts is unknown. South Africa last indicated in 2019 that it was “fully committed” to completing the destruction of its cluster munition stocks by the deadline.[17]
South Africa destroyed 139 cluster munitions and 78,994 submunitions or components previously held by Rheinmetall Denel Munition via open detonation/open burning at Alkantpan, on or by 12 September 2012. The destroyed munitions included:
- 129 individual submunitions for 155mm artillery projectiles;
- 78,594 components for submunitions used for 155mm artillery projectiles;
- 108 155mm projectiles; and
- 10 CB-470 Alpha cluster bombs, each containing 40 submunitions.[18]
South Africa last detailed progress towards stockpile destruction in its 2017 Article 7 transparency report.
Retention
South Africa reported in 2017 that it does not intend to retain any cluster munitions for research or training purposes.[19]
[1] South Africa Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form A, 8 September 2017. See, Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Database. South Africa has not amended its Mine Ban Treaty national implementing legislation to incorporate specific provisions of 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. It also imposes penal sanctions for violation of the law, including imprisonment for individuals and fines for individuals and corporations. See, Government of South Africa, Anti-Personnel Mines Prohibition Act, No. 36 of 2003, 5 December 2003.
[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] The report covers activities in calendar year 2015. It was originally due by 29 April 2016.
[4] Timely submission of Article 7 transparency reports is a legal obligation for States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The report should be emailed to the UN Secretary-General via the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs at: ccm@un.org. For more information, see, Convention on Cluster Munitions, “Transparency Measures,” undated.
[5] For details on South Africa’s policy and practice regarding cluster munitions through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 153–156.
[6] South Africa has attended every Meeting of States Parties, the First Review Conference in 2015, and intersessional meetings in 2011–2015.
[7] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 76/47, 6 December 2021.
[8] In 2005, South Africa’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that, “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.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Denel, “Denel Land Systems: Artillery: Products,” undated; and Leland S. Ness and Anthony G. Williams, eds., Jane’s Ammunition Handbook 2007–2008 (Surrey: Jane’s Information Group, 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] South Africa Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form E, 8 September 2017.
[12] Rheinmetall Defence, “Rheinmetall Denel Munition (Pty) Ltd,” undated. Rheinmetall Defence acquired Denel’s Boksburg, Naschem, Somchem, and Swartklip divisions. While Rheinmetall Defence is the majority shareholder in Rheinmetall Denel Munition, Denel holds 49% of the shares.
[13] Letter from the Monitor to Rheinmetall Denel Munition (Pty) Ltd., 6 July 2018.
[14] Robert Hewson, ed., Jane’s Air Launched Weapons, Issue 44 (Surrey: Jane’s Information Group, 2004), p. 440.
[15] Email from Dr. Robert E. Mtonga, Coordinator, Zambian Campaign to Ban Landmines (ZCBL), 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; and 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 state of Zimbabwe), and that “Zimbabwe may have quantities of the Alpha bomblet.” See, Robert Hewson, ed., Jane’s Air-Launched Weapons, Issue 44 (Surrey: Jane’s Information Group, 2004), p. 440.
[16] South Africa Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form B, 8 September 2017.
[17] Statement of South Africa, Convention on Cluster Munitions Ninth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 2 September 2019. South Africa had expressed its intent to meet the November 2023 deadline at the Eighth Meeting of States Parties in September 2018. See, statement of South Africa, Convention on Cluster Munitions Eighth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 3 September 2018.
[18] South Africa Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form E, 8 September 2017.
[19] South Africa Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form C, 8 September 2017. South Africa marked “None” for cluster munition type, and “N/A” for quantity, in every section of Form C.