Publication: Business Day
Issued:
Date: 2007-03-30
Reporter: Terry CrawfordBrowne
Opinion &
Analysis
What irony that Finance Minister Trevor Manuel bemoans the “unacceptably high”
corruption and crime rate that afflicts SA, Far too many South Africans afraid
of crime Manuel (March 29).
It is generally
accepted that the arms deal unleashed this crisis. It set the scene for
Oilgate, Travelgate, Chancellor House, the Kebble fiascos, the drug syndicates
and now Fidentia.
Manuel’s responsibility in the cabinet’s arms deal
subcommittee was the affordability and financing of the packages.
The
affordability study warned that the arms deal could lead government and the
country into “mounting fiscal, financial and economic difficulties”. Those
warnings were ignored.
Instead, SA was informed that the arms deal was a
unique opportunity to spend R30bn to obtain R110bn in offsets, and create more
than 65 000 jobs to stimulate economic development. Did Manuel and then trade
and industry minister Alec Erwin actually swallow such
drivel? It is Manuel’s signature on the 20-year foreign loans that give
effect to the arms deal.
He succumbed to political pressure, and failed
his constitutional obligations to this country.
Despite government’s continuing efforts to
squelch the scandal, the bribes that fuelled the arms
deal are gradually being exposed. They are estimated at
about R4bn.
Manuel and his cabinet colleagues would do well to
cancel the BAE contracts for warplanes that haven’t yet been
delivered, and which the South African Air Force
reported in 1997 and 1998 *1 were too expensive and unsuited to SA’s
needs.
Terry Crawford-Browne
Milnerton, Cape TownWith acknowledgement to Terry Crawford-Browne and Business
Day.
*1 And in 2006/7 reported to
Parliament that they cannot afford to fly and don't actually need - even though
they haven't yet been delivered.
Tell us oh mighty ones - what is wrong
with the Cheetah Cs at present and why can't they be kept operational until 2017
or 2022?