Unlike certain other countries, South Africa's arms sales policy is one of restraint rather than a free for all, says national Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) chairman Kader Asmal.

"We do not sell arms to all-comers, we don't sell arms to those who are considered to be consistently violating human rights," he said during debate in the national assembly on the National Conventional Arms Control Bill.

The bill represented the democratic state's answer to the activities of "the merchants death", who indiscriminately sold arms to those who undermined legitimate governments, stoked internal rivalries, weakened economies and destabilised the African continent, Asmal said.

Deputy Defence Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge said that in adopting the bill South Arica was providing the moral and political leadership "the world has come to expect".

The country was showing its commitment to peace by regulating the arms trade, she said.

The Democratic Alliance was the only party to object to the bill. DA Spokeman Hendrik Schmidt said the final version before the house did not have "any real form of transparency and accountability" in terms of which the parliamentary committee responsible could exercise its duty.

"It will be mere rubber stamp due to the interference of the executive in the responsibilities of the legislature."

Another important issue was "the apparent lack of honesty we as a country show towards our commitment to disclosing fully all our conventional arms exports in terms of the United Nations Arms Register", Schmidt said.

The bill makes it an offence to disclose classified documents concerning the business of the NCACC, except with the permission of a "competent authority", or as required in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act. It also sets out, among other things, procedures, guiding principles and criteria for issuing conventional arms export permits and for transparency.

With acknowledgements to Sapa and Cape Times.