South Africans should be proud of the "enviable reputation" of the country's defence industry, the Aerospace, Maritime and Defence Industry Association (AMD) said on Thursday.

"It should be a matter of pride for South Africans to know its indigenous defence industry is the envy of many others, including so-called first world nations," said AMD executive director Simphiwe Hamilton in a statement.

Describing the regime for the sale of defence equipment as "legitimate, stringent and transparent", Hamilton said the industry was a "responsible contributor" to the South African economy.

"It generates significant revenues and pays taxes, creates innovative high technology products and systems, invests in skills development and is an employer and subcontractor of note."

Hamilton's comments come days after non-profit organisation Ceasefire Campaign reported South Africa had sold R13.2 billion in dangerous weapons to "problematic" countries in the past decade.

Five of South Africa's top 10 arms purchasers - India, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Colombia and Saudi Arabia - did not satisfy the criteria set out in the National Conventional Arms Control Act, Ceasefire Campaign steering committee member Rob Thomson said at a press briefing on Tuesday.

According to the Act arms should not be sold to countries with embargoes against them, if they were violating human rights or involved in regional conflicts.

"We should not be selling arms to them in the first place, let alone having them as our major recipients," said Thomson.

Hamilton said the industry valued its business partners.

"We greatly value our partners with whom we do business, regardless of Ceasefire's vilification of these countries."