The trial of Schabir Shaik on charges of corruption is still proceeding and until a verdict is announced there should be no public comment on the rights and wrongs of that particular case.

Nevertheless, this week's evidence by Judge Willem Heath, former head of the disbanded Special Investigation Unit (SIU), has ramifications beyond the Shaik case. According to Heath (and it can hardly be gainsaid), the government itself took decisive action to prevent the SIU from going any further with its investigation of the whole arms deal affair. Given the efficiency and success rate of the unit, that fact alone suggests only one thing: that there was indeed something to hide. It is probably now too late to uncover some of the things that Heath might have found but as this newspaper has said on various occasions, the fishy smell *1 surrounding the arms deal will not go away, no matter how much high-powered deodorant *2 the government uses.

With acknowledgements to The Natal Witness.

*1 When one goes afishing for corrupt men (can fish be corrupt?) one often has put up with fishy smells - it's the bait.

*2 When it comes to arms deal, both local and international, such aromas often have a distinctly francophone origin, Parfum de la Two Day Old Snoek *3 with Hint of Garlic and Ripe Cheesy Escargot *4

*3 Cape Snoek Thyrsites atun

*4 Roman Snail or Escargot Helix pomatia