The South African Council of Churches (SACC) on Wednesday said it was "deeply disturbed" by the government's decision to take up the first of two optional purchases associated with the arms deal signed in December 1999.

In a statement, SACC spokesman Eddie Makue said the council was "particularly concerned by the spending priorities implicit in the decision and the lack of transparency surrounding it".

He said the SACC understood that a defence force was necessary but had consistently questioned the "need for the purchase of state-of-the-art weaponry in light of the more pressing problems created by poverty and the HIV/Aids pandemic". Objections to defence procurement package

He said an SACC delegation met with government in 1996 to raise concerns about the proposed purchase of four corvettes.

"In the intervening years, the Council objected repeatedly to the emerging strategic defence procurement package. More recently, the August 2001 SACC national conference called on government to decline the options associated with the deal, purchases likely to comprise as much as R16-billion of a package now expected to cost close to R53-billion in total".

Makue said the call was reiterated in a memo presented to the Defence Minister in October 2001.

He said the SACC was afraid that the decisions relating to arms would tarnish the government's commitment to poverty alleviation and equality.

"This week, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota and Trade and Industry Minister Alec Erwin sought to justify the decision to purchase 12 more British Aerospace Hawk lead-in fighter trainers on the grounds that diminishing debt service obligations had made additional weapons affordable.

Government 'can't afford' medication, basic income grant

"In recent months, government has said that it cannot afford to make vital medications to combat HIV/Aids available through the public health system," he said.

"The Minister of Finance has declared a Basic Income Grant unaffordable, even before the Cabinet has had a chance to consider fully the options for the roll out of comprehensive social security contained in the report of the Taylor Committee of Inquiry. And yet, over the past five years, the government has found ways to "afford" tax cuts totalling R50-billion a year".

"National security depends on ability to fight poverty and inequality"

Makue said the SACC believed that national security depended first and foremost on the ability to fight poverty and inequality.

"We share with the government a commitment to the vision of genuine national security... Consequently, we believe that South Africa's national security depends first and foremost on our ability to fight poverty and inequality, rather than foreign aggressors," he said.

With acknowledgements to Sapa and www.iafrica.co.za