Deputy Speaker, Minister, perhaps you should consider whether you are accountable to your own former leader. Former President Nelson Mandela announced that human rights will be the light that guides our foreign affairs when he announced that we made a clear break with our foreign policy practices of the past.
To give effect to the principle that human rights should be the foundation of our foreign policy, we passed a law to regulate the sale of conventional arms. The preamble to that law says that our country is a responsible member of the international community and will not trade in conventional arms with states engaged in repression, aggression and terrorism. Yet, now it emerges that we are dealing with some of the most repressive regimes in the world.
The Minister confirmed in his media statement of 6 August that there were permits awaiting authorisation for the sale of thousands of sniper rifles to Syria and millions of rounds of ammunition to Zimbabwe. Will the Minister give this House the assurance that the National Conventional Arms Control Committee, NCACC, will do the right thing and refuse the permits for the sale of sniper rifles to Syria and ammunition to Zimbabwe? [Applause.]