It was reported yesterday that the Scorpions are negotiating a complex, dual-country amnesty agreement with French authorities to cover key figures in the R40-billion arms deal, in an attempt to strengthen their investigation into it. If the agreement is reached, it could be serious for Schabir Shaik, charged with corruption in relation to the deal, and might even result in the extension of charges to include deputy president Jacob Zuma.

Without the agreement, though, it may be impossible to bring a case against Zuma and the case against Shaik would be weakened.

The murky convolutions of the arms deal have turned it into a burden and a handicap for the South African Government, one reminiscent of the Ancient Mariner's reeking albatross.

Internationally, it's affected South Africa's economic and diplomatic credibility. At home the vast expenditure - inflated dramatically over the years - and the increasingly unconvincing explanation for it, have outraged taxpayers, as have stories of the flagrant enrichment of certain government officials who were party to the deal. It's time to clean up the mess; one way or another, the albatross must be cut loose.

The crux of the agreement would be the granting of amnesty in both France and South Africa to two French witnesses, one of whom, Alain Thetard, could be in possession of evidence damning to Shaik in particular and which could open up the whole can of worms.

Government should welcome and encourage the agreement. For its own and South Africa's sake we need to have our own people thoroughly investigated and punished if found guilty, no matter how important or revered the individuals concerned may be. If the price of this is the release of a corrupt Frenchman, so be it. This is an important litmus test of government's credibility.

With acknowledgement to The Natal Witness.