Following the DA’s persistent efforts Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Defence (JSCD) has agreed to compel the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) and its administrative arm, the Directorate for Conventional Arms Control (DCAC) to appear before the Committee on Friday, 20 February 2026.
This follows the Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, in her capacity as the Chairperson of the NCACC, blocking DA oversight at the DCAC offices last year, repeated cancellations to appear before parliament amid mounting evidence of operational collapse, including the permit system being offline since 9 January and export approvals grinding to a halt.
The very first question the NCACC must answer this week is this: why was the new system not fully operational by the end of May 2025, as explicitly promised to Parliament during last year’s oversight visit?
If the NCACC and DCAC cannot provide a clear, evidence-based explanation for why the May 2025 commitment was not met, it will raise serious concerns that Parliament was misled.
Should the explanations prove insufficient, the DA will have no hesitation in submitting a further complaint to Parliament’s Ethics Committee.
The NCACC is the gateway to billions of rands in defence exports and thousands of skilled jobs and when it fails, contracts stall, factories go idle and South Africa’s credibility suffers.
While officials now suggest a replacement system is being rushed online, serious concerns remain about data integrity following the downtime, particularly given that the previous system was obsolete, unstable for years and incapable of accommodating upgrades.
Under Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, who previously blocked oversight and then ran to court to delay an ethics complaint against her, avoidance has become the pattern.
On 20 February, the NCACC must answer; clearly, fully, and without spin.