Publication: Business Day Issued: Date: 2006-08-30 Reporter: Wyndham Hartley

MPs to Quiz Mbeki on Arms Deal

 

Publication 

Business Day
Date 2006-08-30

Reporter

 Wyndham Hartley

Web Link

www.businessday.co.za

 

Cape Town ­ President Thabo Mbeki and his role in the arms deal will come under scrutiny in the National Assembly today when he answers questions from MPs in presidential question time.

Ironically, the opportunity to question the president on meetings that he allegedly had with French arms company Thint, a co-accused in Jacob Zuma’s fraud and corruption trial, will be provided by African National Congress (ANC) chief whip Mbulelo Goniwe. He will ask whether or not the ongoing suspicions about the armaments procurement and the travel fraud trial involving MPs has shaken government’s commitment to fighting corruption.

While the question is clearly designed to give Mbeki an opportunity to pronounce on government’s anticorruption stance, opposition parties will undoubtedly use the follow-up questions to ask Mbeki about meetings related to the arms deal that he claims not to remember.

Goniwe’s question in Parliament also coincides with a briefing today on the unveiling of initiatives developed by the National Anti-Corruption Forum aimed at contributing to the fight against corruption.

The forum comprises government, business and civil society and is chaired by Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi.

The effects of a brutal ANC succession struggle, which has divided the party into Mbeki and Zuma camps, on governance in SA will also be highlighted when Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon asks questions.

He will ask whether the issue is having any negative effects on governance and if Mbeki’s assurance in September last year that the government was functioning properly and effectively remains valid.

With acknowledgement to Wyndham Hartley and Business Day


Vat hom, Fluffies.