Publication: The Witness
Issued:
Date: 2007-01-13
Reporter: Editorial
Reporter:
| Publication |
The Witness
|
| Date |
2007-01-13 |
|
Reporter
|
Editorial |
|
Web Link
|
www.witness.co.za
|
No
pleas, however impassioned or well-argued, have generated the clean wind of honesty needed to blow the whole arms deal
mess away . . .
For almost a decade now the cloud of the arms deal has hung grimily over the South
African political landscape, and no amount of pressure such as the
repercussions deriving from Patricia de Lille’s dossier of evidence relating to
irregularities and no pleas, however impassioned or well-argued, have
generated the clean wind of honesty needed to blow the whole mess away. And so,
as De Lille warned years ago, the allegations of corruption are still there and
the murk is thickening rather than dissipating as the
arms deal goes on playing itself out on various fronts. The latest development
is that British investigators are probing a multi-million pound defence contract
between Britain’s BAE Systems and South Africa, whereby the company won a
contract in 1999 to supply South Africa with military aircraft at allegedly
double the price of a rival Italian bidder.
And so, like the hapless
group trapped last week in a cave behind a large woman stuck fast in the only
exit, South Africa is trapped behind the arms deal, unable
to wriggle its way to the open air. Some of those most tightly squeezed,
such as Jacob Zuma’s financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, and his client, must have
a sinking feeling at the news of the British investigation. It brings attention
back to Shaik’s solicitation of a R500 000 annual bribe for
Zuma from French arms company Thint Holdings, as protection from investigation
for corruption, one of the reasons for Shaik’s current imprisonment, and,
as far as Zuma is concerned, a matter still to be legally resolved.
The
arms deal looks likely to smoulder on for a long while yet,
a costly blight on the whole country. And yet some good may come of it if
lessons have been learned. When the whole thing began we were a very new
democracy and those were heady days for inexperienced people
in positions of power and with access for the first
time to public funds. The possibility of enriching
themselves, undetected and at state expense, must have been overwhelming for some. A decade and many sobering
corruption trials later, there seem to be signs that the crazed rush to self-enrichment and self-gratification is on
the wane, especially as the true meaning of democracy begins to take root.
With acknowledgements to The Witness.