Cape Town, South Africa, May 4, 2016 / 05:37 am
The Catholic bishops of South Africa have criticized the government for excessive weapons spending given the country's major social problems.
"We insist that, in the absence of discernible external military threat to our country, and in a country which is struggling to recover from high levels of unemployment and extreme poverty, it is ethically irresponsible and unnecessary to spend billions of scarce resources on weapons of war," said Bishop Abel Gabuza.
Bishop Gabuza chairs the Justice and Peace Commission for the South Africa Catholic Bishops' Conference. In an April 26 statement, he said the arms spending ignored the real problem.
"(T)he greatest threat to our national security are economic inequalities and youth unemployment which are themselves fueling violent social protests," he said.