General Siphiwe Nyanda, SANDF Chief, joins Yengeni on the Merc debacle

Mosiuoa Lekota, the Defence Minister, was surprised by the report that General Siphiwe Nyanda, the South African National Defence Force Chief, received two luxury vehicles at a discount from a company involved in the arms deal. This is according to Sam Mkhwanazi, Lekota's spokesperson. 

Mkhwanazi says Lekota only learnt about the incident in a report by the Sunday Times today, which alleges Nyanda received a R500 000 Mercedes Benz at a massively reduced price from European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, the same company that allegedly offered Tony Yengeni, the ANC Chief Whip a 4X4 as a gift. 

Mkhwanazi says: "He (Lekota) learnt it with surprise." Lekota has yet to speak to Nyanda who was abroad and would wait for the general to return to discuss the matter. He could therefore not comment on calls from the United Democratic Movement that Nyanda should be suspended pending an investigation. "It will be unfair for him to say, he will do a, b, c, d, when he hasn't talked to the general." On whether Lekota
condoned or believed it was ethical for senior military officials to benefit in this way from defence companies, Mkhwanazi said: "It would be unfair for him to make that comment, he hasn't discussed the matter with the general yet."  

On calls from Bantu Holomisa, the UDM leader, for a judicial inquiry into the arms deal in view of the Nyanda allegations, Mkhwanazi says the minister believes the claims are part of the multi-agency probe into arms deal and are being dealt with in that forum. 

What the Sunday Times Reported 

According the the sunday paper, Nyanda, this week, admitted he had received a R500 000 Mercedes Benz at a massively reduced price from European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS). Nyanda received a new silver S320, just after it was ordered by EADS, which has a stake in the arms deal, as a "private staff" car. It is not clear exactly when he received the vehicle, as it was registered in his name on January 8, but the report did not say of which year. He took delivery of another Mercedes, a luxury E320 AMG worth about R400 000 in October 1998, the same month as Yengeni received his luxury 4x4 vehicle from the company. 

In a statement today, Holomisa said his party is still concerned about allegations that some political leaders like Yengeni were recipients of favours from EADS. "It becomes even more serious now that institutions of integrity, like defence and its heads, is involved in this. If this is an indication of the precarious position of our country's moral fibre, we need to be magnanimous, stop tinkering and call for a judicial commission of inquiry." Holomisa accused EADS executives of underestimating the intelligence of South Africans.

In 1998, Yengeni, as then head of Parliament's joint committee on defence, former Defence Minister Joe Modise and Nyanda himself, "induced the government to underwrite the Defence Review". As a result, cabinet succeeded in prioritising the procurement of the arms against a parliamentary resolution which had said expenditure on the arms should not succeed R9,7 billion up until 2006," Holomisa says. Parliament had said that if the defence force wanted more equipment, then it should reduce personnel. 

Holomisa says what is strange about this prioritisation, is that Modise has formed companies which are ultimately beneficiaries of the arms deal through sub-contracts. "He is now benefiting, his company is benefiting and his associates are benefiting." Modise has repeatedly denied accusations of corruption in the arms deal and has threatened to sue publications who have published the allegations.

Holomisa says the writing is on the wall for what he described as the "comrades in corruption" and says unless this is stopped the country is heading for disaster. "If we are to follow the ethics of good governance, then Minister Lekota should immediately suspend General Nyanda, pending a judicial commission of inquiry."

DA Expresses Disappointment

In its reaction, the Democratic Alliance has expressed extreme disappointment. "Does this man have no sense? Surely it must have crossed his mind that fingers could be pointed at him," Hendrik Schmidt, the DA spokesperson on defence, said. Those occupying senior positions needed to put the interest of the public well before their own private interests. The inquiry into the arms deal would indicate the extent of corruption involved, but Nyanda should consider whether he was fit to occupy high office. "Such a foolish man should step down," Schmidt said. 

The latest revelation lent weight to the DA's call for EADS to make public the identities of the 30 VIP's who benefited from vehicles from the company. The newspaper also reported that Llew Swan, the former Armscor chief executive, and Vanan Pillay, the Department of Trade and Industry's director of industrial participation, received "whopping" discounts on their own Mercedes Benzes while they were negotiating the R43 billion arms deal on behalf of the government.  

With acknowledgment to Sapa and SABC News.