One interesting development out of Monday’s ANC NEC meeting was the announcement of an ad-hoc committee that will produce a “detailed structural report” on the 1999 arms deal. This has supposedly been brought to bear given the lack of detail of the facts surrounding the arms deal and the role of the ANC president, Jacob Zuma, in it.
However, given the Zuma-dominated NEC, along with many feelings of hypocrisy about Mbeki, there may be a more sinister directive; finding evidence, coincidental or not, on President Thabo Mbeki.
Much of the tolerance of Zuma’s graft taint stems from the fact that much of the electorate believes that Mbeki is as guilty of corruption in the arms deal as Zuma, but that he was more effective in shutting down investigations. It’s their belief, along with most of Zuma’s backers, that Zuma was the fall guy for a corrupt president.
Andrew Feinstein, who was an ANC MP and Scopa leader, was well known for resigning when the ANC clamped down on investigations into the deal. Feinstein went on to write a book, After the Party, which had a lot to say about the process leading up to, and subsequent to, the deal’s signing.
In the book, Feinstein mentions Mbeki a few times in questionable circumstances. He alleges that Mbeki met Parliament’s joint investigations team on the arms deal to tell it who it could and could not investigate, and that Mbeki shut down both the Scopa and the British BAE inquiries into the arms deal.
Feinstein states that “I don’t think he [Mbeki] was involved in any personal corruption, I think he either solicited directly or condoned the solicitation of money from contractors prior to award of contracts for the ANC [party coffers]. In addition, Mbeki chaired the sub-committee that made all of the arms-deal contract decisions and those decisions were fundamentally flawed.” The Sunday Times also alleged in 2006 that when Mbeki was deputy president in 1998, he met executives of Thomson-CSF (now Thales) in Paris, a company that was bidding for a stake in the deal worth billions of rands.
I would not be surprised if this is exactly what Phosa and other Zuma backers on the NEC are after — a tit-for-tat investigation into Mbeki’s role that they hope will just shut the whole thing down. Unfortunately, this may also lead to the biggest crisis the ANC has ever faced, which may make the recent succession battle look like a mere playground skirmish.
They should all be fired as they bought arms instead of power stations which will effectively shut down our economic growth for years to come.
But you are right we are now into revenge politics.
Do the electorate really think Mbeki is as guilty as Zuma, i think that is highly unlikely.
What is really really worrying is that fraud is clearly now tolerated openly by the ANC. Not only has the president of the ANC been found to be part of a corrupt relationship with Shaik by the high court and courts of appeal (makes him guilt until proven innocent in my book), but Tony Yengeni , convicted fraudster,is now on the NEC.
Cry South Africa, cry. The clock is ticking on the next African disaster, and the people are rubbing their hands in eager anticipation…….fools
“Detailed structural report” means “whitewash” in political-speak.
I am more interested to know who made the decision and when, to enter into a massive arms deal. South Africa was not in any danger from her neighbors and was in dire need of housing, electricity and social services for the poor. Mbeki and Mandela need to explain why they relegated these priorities in favour of military spending. R50 billion would be quite useful even today to fix up some of the problems that they inherited from the Nats. Why did they forgo the opportunity to do something useful with that money? Hardly anyone in the country would agree today that the arms deal money was well spent and that it was a priority of the newly elected government. I can only guess that there were overriding personal incentives for all those involved in the acquisition process and it went to their heads. Yengeni, Zuma, Mbeki, Modise and I am afraid to say, Mandela are all tainted by this whole episode. As for the arms dealers, well they are just that. What more can I say.
As we thought, Phosa is going to be very influencial in this NEC. He is a smart and intelligent fellow, that can debate issues effectively. He can get his way in a club of yes- men and women.
There was a report accepted by the ANC in previous times, what is the purpose of this one?Interesting.
I do not think a tit-for-tat investigation will shut down the Zuma matter, after all there are more charges then the R500 000,00 arms deal bribe.
Side-issue, what did the NEC discuss in their meeting?Zuma,NPA and the arms deal, it appears.One wait s for the day they really get into business. I suggest a probe into poverty,crime and unemployment maybe. Thats if they are done with this Zuma obsession.Anyway….
These combrades might be pointing the “umshini wam” at their proverbial feet. Zuma is only up for a petty R500k bribe, Tony served time for a discount. if they offer to finds facts they might skirt a bit too close to the truth and the bigger players will be involved. The germans already want a few of these guys but the powers that be are doing a good job of playing dumb.
I hope this NEC knows what their doing.
Whether people believe that Mbeki is also implicated or not the partten of how polically inclined cases have be dealt with under Mbeki raises many questions.
I agree that if Zuma is guilty he must face the music, but I am now doubtful of NPA’s ability to get this done, seven years and nothing. One just has to look at the inconsistencies of their operations, Zuma’s charges reaches the media before they reach him in person, while on the other hand Selebi’s charge sheet gets sent to the Justice minister who deives and dodges them and reppears to snub them by saying that they were supposed make decisions independently as if we needed to hear that from her. They have been making decisions throughout regarding Zuma’s case without consulting the minister.
When the so called leftist organisations were crying foul the single angle analysists were saying “rubbish”, now Gerrie Nel is also arrested while he was heading the probe into Selebi’s alleged illegal activities and now people FF and other opposition parties cry “double standards”. What is happening before our eyes is nothing but a collective of scorned and illtreated individuals who have now decided that its time for Mbeki to pay for victimising them over the years and the force appears to be unstopable.
Now we hear voices coming from different quarters in his defence like his “mom” and the likes of Bizos who are well aware where this emanated from.
It is indeed very saddeining that instead of probe into poverty, the ANC — the liberator of SA — chooses to play revenge politics. More bitter to swallow is the fact that in the week that this once-great political movement is supposed to be celebrating its 96-years of existence and noting its lofty achievements; former comrades are gleefully sharpening their knives, sardonic smiles and all – waiting for more of their brothers and sisters to fall on their own swords. What is this new probe expected to unearth that the very ANC (or was that Mbeki’s ANC?) failed to find in its previous investigations? As it was suspected, the ones who first cried ‘conspiracy’ are now pulling the puppet strings; and their venom is directed at those they so convincingly vanquished in Polokwane. But with an NEC filled to the brim with so-called leaders who are under one type of invesyigation or another (Nzimande with the R500k; Yengeni with the parole breaches; etc), is it any wonder that government chief strategist and so-called Mbeki supporter, Joel Netshitenzhe and even Mbeki himself, chose not to be part of the first NEC meeting? I, too, would not be party to such a circus. As one poet once wrote: How can corn expect justice from a court full of chickens? How can we expect this latest farce, disguised as a probe, to enlighten us any better about the shady deals that the ANC honchos certainly got embroiled in — when they should have known better?!?!?
I suspect that one of the main considerations for the government of the time when deciding to undertake the arms deal was to buy off the SA military. The apartheid generals were a potential threat to the new state and giving them lots of new toys to play with would assure them of their “place in the sun” in the new SA.
I tend to agree with Alan Egner. What people always fail to remember is that Mbeki was not president of the state when this arms deal was cooked up. As state president he only inherited a moving steal-roller. Somebody could have put a foot down and said lets built clinics and hospitals with that money. It did not happen.
I do not get most assertions in Mr Feinsteins’ book, however the fact that he himself say he does not think that Mbeki personally and/or directly benefited from the arms deal might be true. For if he did (benefit from corruption) and adding the anarmosity in the ANC right now, that story would have long been licked or at least hyped into the media. The worst I read about Mbekis involvement in the whole saga, is alleged meetings that he had with bidders and him allegedly blocking probes into the arms deal.
I look at that I see a noble guy saving his comrades. Again according to Feinstein, one of those comrades was Zuma himself and the likes of the late Joe Modise. I think the Shaik conviction forced him to fire his deputy. I do not believe that was the plan.
What I see is a party trying to force a political settlement on a criminal matter, period. What they are trying to do is to force Mbeki to either save himself(if he was corrupt) or save the legacies of people who came before him – i think one of those people is uTata uMandela himself. I am in no way implying that Mandela was corrupt but the arms deal happened on his watch and that cannot be good reflection on him.
From the literature that I have read on Mbeki, he is the type of a guy who would put his body on the line to save a cause he believes in – of course I assume he believes in fighting corruption. Mbeki is not the type of guy who is worried about always looking good. The only thing they can do is to taint people he would be compelled to save.
Now I know why JZ wants his machine gun! It’s his fixation with the arms deal.
Mike reckons the ANC government bought toys for
boys.De Klerk fired most of his generals(37) in one
go if I remember correctly, so there can’t be many
‘white boys’ left to enjoy the pleasure of the new toys.
The fact is that most of the Defence force equipment was pretty outdated by 1994 and as shown
in Angola the ‘Cheetahs’, modified Mirages, found
going hard against the latest model Migs.
So there is nothing wrong in replacing antiquated
equipment,unless you want a repeat of what happened in Bloemfontein.
What was wrong that people with little
knowledge were placed in charge of the purchases
and that politicians with less than honest intentions started pulling the strings.
It is clear that the ANC-government has no intention on really comming clean on this issue so even debating this, is a waste of time
I’m not South African, but as an African from a country destroyed buy years of wars, i am warning my fellow South African to not play with the fire. This continent is what it is now because of leaders who based their powers on tribal or ethnic connections, when they can’t deliver and must give chances to other to take charges, or when they are failing to convince the nation, they cry of tribalism and will bring the poor people to killing each other (Kenya)and who wins in all of this? South Africa is the only model of Democracy we can proudly talk about in this continent, please, don’t let us down! We are already seating on a timed bomb of poverty, HIV and AIDS, crime and many other! Brothers and sisters, wake-up! I don’t wanna say one day that i really warned you guys, this is my home as well! God Bless.
The ANC, in calling for this report into the arms deal (which will not be published, but I am sure that some of it will be leaked) has further reduced its already diminished credibility. The only reliable form of investigation would be a proper, independant commission of inquiry headed by a neutral figure of impeccable character. Remember when the SAP used to investigate itself when accused of killing detainees under the previous government, and how “credible” the findings of those investigations were?
In choosing the membership that it has for its NEC and NWC, the ANC has turned down the path well-trodden by other liberation movements on the continent. I expect that the war between the two factions within the ANC will likely destroy that organisation, and probably the country with it. Mbeki will fight with every resource at his disposal, for not only has he nowhere to go, but he has also been humiliated locally and internationally by a man he considers to be his inferior in every respect – intellectually, ethically and politically. Since we have besmirched our name and reputation at the UN by voting against the will of the major powers, I do not expect that he will receive any offers from them. His choice is thus to fight Zuma by every means possible, or face disappearing into an ignoble retirement. His only chance to recover any credibility is to win back the leadership of the party, either for himself or a trusted proxy.
It took Mugabe 15 years to reach the point where the decline of Zimbabwe became inevitable. The ANC has achived it in 13. It is pathetic that an organisation that publicly calls itself a collective is so transparently not; it is hostage to the personalities and egos that dominate it.
I am by nature an optimist, but I see no good in any of this.
“How can we expect this latest farce, disguised as a probe, to enlighten us any better about the shady deals that the ANC honchos certainly got embroiled in — when they should have known better?!?!?”
Jon Swazi what a stupid comment! The ANC stated clearly that this is an internal probe mearnt for the “new” NEC to see how they can support their president. It is not mearnt to enlighten you damn fool. If you need enlightment on the arms deal I suggest you go out and find the material, its out there in the public domain.
It was uncalculative for the ANC to even announce this probe because it’s not in the public interest. Does the public care about what kind of support the ANC wants to give to its president?
What’s important to democracy and the country at large is that the allegations against Zuma are tested in a court of law without any political interference. Finish and Klaar.
I still believe that Zuma will not be the next President due to all his ‘dodgy dealings’, and we will instead choose another candidate…………maybe Ramaphosa?
Or am I dreaming here?
Why the ANC has to investigate Armsgate when they have already (thru their majority in SCOPA, which has subpoena powers) found themselves to be innocent is as great a puzzle as why the NPA decision on Selebi would have to be referred to the minister if the NPA had found he had nothing to answer to.
People like Allan Boesak & Yengeni and even the Shaiks may have been great and courageous in fighting for themselves against the Nats; that does not entitle them to pilfer the till, which seems to be the main objective of the ANC.
Mike is partly right. Also, the weapons are mainly force-multipliers (fighters and warships) which require very few personnel. Point is that you can’t launch a coup from a submarine or a fighter.
Actually, because the SA Navy had virtually rusted away and the SAAF’s latest fighters were twenty-five years old, it also made a lot of sense to re-equip them. (The apartheid military focussed almost exclusively on the army after 1974.)
Oh, incidentally, R50 billion is about a seventh of the annual state budget; over the ten-year payment period, the arms deal has cost less than 2% of the budget every year. The impact of the deal on social spending has been wildly exaggerated.
As has, in my humble opinion, the scale of the bribery involved. I have serious doubts about the German and British allegations; so far these seem to be excuses for letting the bribe-payers off the hook “These bloody Africans aren’t cooperating”, and so on. Nobody in Daimler-Chrysler has gone into the dock yet, whereas the Daimler-Chrysler deal brought down Yengeni, Nyanda and Zuma (though, alas, only temporarily).
Mbeki lost his presidency because the majority in the ANC believed that 1. His implementation of the ANC economic favours business at the expense of the poor, 2. He is party to a conspiracy to oust Zuma and 3. They did not relate to him.
Delegates dissatisfied with him for any one of the above reasons therefore colluded to oust him, which was an easy 3 against 1 fight. They 3 groups did not field separate candidates for fear of splitting the vote, which would have resulted in a Mbeki win.
It should have been clear to everyone that the number one priority of the new NEC is to undo Mbeki’s (perceived)wrongs. The most urgent of these is the Zuma issue, no party wants a cloud hanging over its president, especially with the elections looming.
The NEC’s decision to compile a detailed structured report on the arms deal therefore has nothing to do with true fact-finding, it is rather a defense mechanism. The lines have drawn for the first ANC first State, aka Mbeki battle. The NEC said the committe will also consider practical ways of supporting Zuma during the trial. Simply put, this means over and above his legal team, Zuma now have the committee in his defense team. The ANC is going to fight tooth and nail to defend its president, and they have demostrated that by forming what is a formidable team indeed. Mbeki has a war in his hands, it is anybody’s guess how this will end up.
I have to wonder why it always takes so long for anything to happen. I think they are going to attempt to put this arms deal free-for-all to bed once and for all. However, in the process, they want to dig up enough information to shut down the other power base. After all, Jacob has already said that if he goes down, he’s going to take a lot of people with him. So, all this is doing is flying a flag to Mbeki’s crowd in an attempt to get them to pull their heads in
I would like to add something that I think it is true from the words of Alan Egner when she said that the was no need for that money to be spend in that way because in this country we do not have complications of fighting with such urge weapons. It is unreasonable for our leaders to buy such weapons that are not going to be used while people suffer from poverty and unemployment.
The money that bought this things should have been used for other important matters that concern every individual concerning their needs and wants. I loved it that commend of that lady and I surppose she is the one whom I think she should become one of the advises in the president’s cabinet. She knows how to spend for the useful matters.
The thing is I really can’t say those who are involved in this arms deal matter, but what I would say is that they should have helped our dying nation with that money or improve the standard of health in the country instead of making our qualified doctor and nurses run away of the country and seek for the green pultures. They were hoping that after democracy there will be a better living for all, but instead there are the choosen ones to enjoy the fruits of democracy.
L
As far as I remmember the NEC has 80+ members. Why people single out individuals and refer them as the NEC? they must also remmember their favourates, Ramaphosa, Tokyo, Mohlante are part of the NEC. Peolple must not be fooled by the white communities, they have commanded us for many years and they still do. In South Africa there are a lot of outstanding issues regarding spending of the Ministers? Can the media show us some of those as they did with JZ? e.g. Mlambo-Ngcuka`s spending, surely
Woe…Unto the Anc. Woe unto the country. Blind or not,it has dawned on all as the day of reckoning backens for Mbeki.
Lest he acts hastely,Zuma and his minions will be swift in spoiling further his already tarnished legacy.
For all the Thabo Mbeki supporters sit back and enjoy the bumpy ride.If Thabo Mbeki wants to persist with his evil witch hunt of Jacob Zuma he must be prepared to go all the way!If he is not prepared he made the wrong choice.
I can assure everyone , including everyone on the Thought Leader that still has apartheid hangovers that change has happened if one is uncomfortable thw world is huge.
I now understand how dictators are made, fools and non thinkers with witch agendas groom dictators.If ANC were not alert people ,assisted by Sunday Times and Mail and Guardian ,were busy creating Thabo Mbeki into a dictator.All his croonies have made bucks through BEE deals.
The chickens have come to roost! The culture of revenge politics and lack of consistency was started by our Chief (T.M). There are obvious examples of inconsistency in applying the rules from our chief and you dont have to look further than Jackie Selebi. To be honest the arms deal is bigger that JZ and if there are others who were involved I believe that they should face the music and have their day in court. I believe we have an impartial and vibrant judiciary, therefore if there is credible suspicion lets investigate the issue(s) and if there is evidence then approach the relevant forum for those accused to face the charges.What raises even more suspicion is that Chief has gone out of his way to ensure that we don’t co-operate with other investigators (The Germans) and that by itself creates suspicion. If there is nothing to hide then lets have the investigation.
I believe that what we have witnessed over the last two months in this country is vital for our democracy and Im sure that we will come out of it stronger. I second the idea of an independent forum to investigate the whole saga.
Mbeki’s chickens were heading to the roost from the minute he decided to follow a racial agenda, at the expense of poverty alleviation. Unfortunately, any other potential ANC leader (or for that matter almost any other Afican leader), is so pre-disposed to make the same mistake, that ultimately the choice of who becomes almost irrelevant.
The unfortunate thing about the poor and disadvantaged, is that there rarely, if ever, have had the opportunity to be educated to a point that they understand why they are poor, and what can be done to help them. That makes them easy pickings for any xenophobe, tribalist, populist etc etc.
Only the development and growth of our economy will truly alleviate poverty, and BEE, AA and any number of well intentioned but ultimately ill conceived policies make the situation worse not better, by entrenching racism, and driving away the skilled workers (of all colours) that we so desperately need.
Finally, and i say this with all sincerity to my black South African brothers, please, every time a white person makes a comment that is remotely negative, don’t play the race card. There really are some very very bad African leaders, and thus far, in all honesty, very very few good ones. If we can all move past race, and all be a little more honest and self critical, we could all come a long way. The politics of race, be it white against black, or black against white have always been, and always will be, a disaster, and to be honest, none of us have clean hands!!!
I think another option that doesn’t appear to have been covered is that if they launch a new investigation, it’ll put it in direct conflict with De Lille’s report, thus sowing the seeds of confusion. One report says one thing, the other says another. Which one is right? Ancient mariners used 3 compasses for a reason.
Also, based on the previous actions of the ANC leadership, whenever they launch an investigation, it brings any potential of finding culpability to a grinding halt. No one can be arrested or charged or anything while it’s under way. And with the blazing speed that is African time, this investigation will take years to complete.
After that there will be charges, and counter-charges, and clarifications will need to be made. Ministers will need to read reports and be briefed. This will keep them all out of trouble and not accountable for a VERY long time. And if the international teams get too close, they can always say “here, look, we’re doing our own investigation, we’ll keep you posted”.
And I can guarantee that none of it will be transparent.
VIVA ANC! VIVA FREEDOM CHARTER! ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE!
Media commentators generally are not interested to know the ANC but instead prefer to rely on interpreting interpretations of commentators or press conferences. They do not use their own channels or investigative methods to know the organisation. That’s why they were taken by surprise at Polokwane.
The point is that it is only fair for the new Zuma NEC to seek more information about something as important as the arms deal. No one can deny that this was a major national investment in war machinery. It is a blessing in disguise that there is also the pressing Zuma case, along with strong suspicions of conspiracy by President Mbeki to hide the truth on the real dealing and wheeling around this arms deal.
There is a very real need for the ANC to assess the economic value of the Arms Deal. At more than R30bn, was it a worthy financial investment or not? The answer to this question is not clear today but that answer is far more important than any suspicion of corruption or conspiracy (which at best would be a couple of $millions). Also, the Arms Deal was sold to the public as offering substantial economic benefits – the icing on the cake being the so-called defence procurement offsets. What happened to these promised economic investments? Did they happen, beyond discounts for the likes of Tony Yengeni? Did the weapons arrive? President Mbeki needs to bring his comrades up to speed quickly on these questions. It is here that President Mbeki may face the most serious charge in post-apartheid history – that of economic wastefulness and neglect of his duties to guard national resources.
Corruption involving big armaments or projects is very often initiated by the arms dealers themselves. The big defence manufacturers are a notorious lot in this respect. These companies often operate huge budgets for the sole purpose of corrupting politicians in developing countries. They thrive on wars breaking out here and there in the developing world. This fact has implications in relation to the kind of diplomacy that our country develops with nations whose economies are based on fanning global armed conflict. The main culprits are the Western imperialist countries. The imperialists violated our diplomatic innocence in the world after 1994 by selling us these disgusting killing machines.
Our country needs to develop a new approach to diplomacy, war and peace. We need an approach that is based on peaceful relations as prescribed by the Freedom Charter. Our military strategy must be one of non-aggression, securing global peace, and cultivating solidarity with the oppressed of the world. Our military forces must play a direct unarmed role in the advancement of the social and national economy. This is what we should be contemplating instead of speculating on the rise or fall of this or that President or ANC figure.
Yes, President Mbeki made a basic mistake in relegating the Freedom Charter to the status of a mere icon of the struggle instead of a living doctrine of the South African state and its role in world affairs. He spoke glibly about the national democratic revolution while doing all he could against it. He listened too much to people who continue to praise our Constitution and its defence of private property that every one knows is on violence and death by the neo-apartheid capitalists. We are now at the start again and are striving once more to develop our outlook on the Freedom Charter to repulse the advance of oligarchic BEE, a programme that is in the interest of neo-apartheid capitalism in South Africa. The basic foundations of the Constitution on private property can no longer be taken for granted. A Constitution that is in line with the Freedom Charter is one espousing communal property, the historic form of property that in olden days permitted the oppressed people to enjoy their freedom and independence. In this situation as struggle must begin and escalate in time to achieve nationalisation of land. Such land to be made available for use by the rich upon payment of rent to form the basis of national fund to rid our country of the stench of poverty now evidence everywhere we go.
VIVA JZ! VIVA MOTLANTHE! VIVA MANTASHE! VIVA PHOSA!
FORWARD TO A COOPERATIVE ECONOMY!
FORWARD TO COMMUNAL PROPERTY!
BUILD INNOVATION NATION!
BUILD MULTILINGUAL POPULAR DEMOCRACY!
DOWN WITH POVERTY! DOWN WITH GREEDY BEE!
DOWN WITH NEO-APARTHEID CAPITALISM
To that clown called Skizo; it is often wise to do some research before criticising the thoughts of others. Something that u are clearly not used to.
The follwoing is the quote from the ANC NEC media statement:
“The NEC agreed to establish a committee to look at the practical form this support will take and consider the broader context within which this
case is taking place. This will include a detailed factual report on the arms deal to enable the NEC to apply its mind on the issues and provide leadership.”
Nowhere have I seen the ANC saying the probe will be an internal document. Yes, the information dug up will be used to inform the NEC to “apply its mind on the issues and provide leadership”; but nowhere has it been insinuated that this will be a secret probe. But then again, I am sure Skizo – the genius – has gathered all the information he requires from the “public domain”, whether that data is based on pure rumours or not. Either way, as many in this forum have stated; we are very likely to get the outcomes of the probe leaked to the media; so secret or not — we will receive another piece of propaganda; this time from “Zuma’s ANC”. Nuff said.
I think The ANC NEC is trying to do exactly what the new ANC leadership said they will not do which is to seek revenge against Mbeki and his man.It seems as if the investigation is being done with the preconcieved idea that either Mbeki himself and or some of “his people” are corrupt,some may call it a witch-hunt.The worrying thing is that the report won’t be made public and therefore we will never now its contents officially but it will be leaked into the media anyway and the person who leaks out the information has the discretion of who to taint and who to leave out.Antagonism may arise out of wrong or incomplete facts if the above situation prevails.For the sake of sanity and peace i sincerely hope the report is made public. I think its high time that we know what exactly happened within the whole arms deal saga and if any other politician,businessman/women and any civilian for that matter acted in bad faith,fraudlently or corruptly let justice prevail. I’m just a bit sceptical as to whether the ANC will conduct their investigation with evenhandedness or it will sweep certain incriminating information under the carpet if it taints certain individuals.
Reading the comments,it’s clear that not many
have spend any time in the armed forces and therefore have no clue how dangerous old and outdated equipment can be.
It is not about the money,because two fiscal years
ago the Anc controlled Councils and Provinces
collectively spend R700m in celebrating the approval of their budgets!!
The next time we have combined naval exercises,do you want us to participate in row boats and do you
think they will adequately protect our fishing
resources against foreign fishing fleets?
We are unable to protect our farmers agains stock
theft and poachers from neighbouring countries
enter our game reserves at will,because we are
unable to patrol our borders effectively.
We need effective border control and a well trained
and equiped army could assist our already strained
police force and release them to combat serious
crime instead of trying to arrest cattle thieves.
Originally, when the idea of buying arms first surfaced towards the end of 1994 it was, as Mike supposed, to keep various military types happy, but not only white SADF military, there were also a number of MK soldiers who wanted new toys. One of these ex-MK generals was Siphiwe Nyanda. He was Defence Force Chief when the deals were done, and he also got a half-million Rand discount on a car, just like Yengeni. Now he is on the panel of 6 ANC bigwigs who are tasked with producing this report for the NEC!
The amount requested for the original arms deal “investment” was about R1.7 billion, for corvettes. By the time that parliament approved the purchase in November 1998 the arms deal had expanded to about R30 billion, with many more toys than the military ever expected to get.
Why did this happen when there were so many other demands on the country’s budget as Alan Egner and Martin have pointed out? The conspiracy theory, which is probably largely true, goes as follows: By the end of 1995 the ANC was almost bankrupt. At the Polokwane conference the ANC treasurer reported that the ANC now has about R1.7 billion.
How did this turn-around happen? How coincidental that this is just slightly less than the estimated total amount of the corruption, “commissions”, bribes, kickbacks, etc. Mbeki chaired the sub-committee that made all of the arms-deal contract decisions. Did he arrange for a small percentage of each purchase to go to the ANC?
The difference between what Mbeki is alleged to have done and the corruption of Zuma and Yengeni is that the target for the ill-gotten gains is the party and not personal enrichment.
Everyone in the group of six already know quite a lot about the arms deal. The investigation that they are doing is not to determine what corruption occurred so much as what corruption can no longer be hidden and who can be sacrificed in order to protect the main purpose of the arms deal, which was to finance the ANC.
I have only one question regarding this arms deal corruption issue and Zuma: Where was Mbeki, what does he know, what was his involvement?
I believe he had such an important position that he should have known what was happening. It seems to me Zuma is not the only guy involved here. Mbeki is hiding something. I think the ANC should get to the bottom of this issue once and for all and expose all those involved rather than concentrate on an individual. What the delegates said at Polokwane means a lot about whats going on within the ANC structures, Im talking about very educated man and women who made the decision that Zuma should lead them so for us to understand whats behind the Zuma issue we need to understand WHY they choose Zuma to be the President of the ANC (especially the media) rather than speculating as this can ruin the economy and the nation at large.
To make a fair decission one must have full knowledge and information on the situation. I am of the firm belief that what ever think we know as the public is a half-truth. The recent squaring-up of the power that be will only spill the beans. It may be ugly, it may cost the country plenty of money, but if you want to know the truth, let this charade play itself out.
I have my popcorn ready coz I am expecting some fireworks!!!!!!