Publication: The Star
Issued:
Date: 2007-03-23
Reporter: Editorial
The
National Prosecuting Authority, the Auditor-General and the Public Protector
last week missed an opportunity to shut the door on a
host of recycled allegations about the arms deal which have yet to be satisfactorily explained in light of
investigations in Britain, Sweden and Germany. Disappointingly, the three
agencies have decided to handle the issue piecemeal and not to have a transparent, second joint investigation.
As the
politicians and media fall into yet another cycle of bribery and corruption
allegations, it is clear that there are too many questions
that have not been answered satisfactorily.
More than five years
after the November 2001 Joint Investigation Report into the arms deal, few heads have rolled and fewer
prosecutions have materialised. On the international front investigators
have begun probing their own for allegedly bribing South African officials, yet
only Schabir Shaik is sitting in jail.
The
380-page JIT report *1 was the product of an 18-month
long investigation by the three agencies which decided that "no evidence was
found of any improper or unlawful conduct by the government".
It found
then that the conduct of some individuals could not be
blamed on the president or the cabinet ministers *2 involved in the arms
deal.
Yet significantly the JIT noted that "areas of criminal and
sensitive nature" were considered inappropriate to be included in its report,
given ongoing investigations by the Scorpions.
At the time the report
was made public, in excess of 102 summonses had been issued by the Scorpions,
while 57 statements, statutory records from 193 entities and numerous documents
were obtained. Why is it that only the "small fry"have been
fingered? *3
Did the ANC's own cash-strapped coffers and not only the
pockets of some individuals benefit? *5 Is this the
political cover-up *5 that concerned MPs once lobbied then-PAC MP
Patricia de Lille about?
It is time for us to find
out once and for all *5. Anything less will doom us
*5 to another round of allegations and suspicion about one of most contested chapters of our democracy.
With acknowledgement to The Star.
*1 A cooked report if there ever
was one. The final drafts of this report show almost the opposite was
true.
Shauket Fakie was the leader of this team and primarily responsible
for allowing his auditees to change the report to their liking.
He should
be sitting in the same cell as Schabir
Shaik.
*2 The conduct of Chippy Shaik can be
attributed entirely to the then Minister of Defence, Joe Modise.
Shaik
was handpicked by Modise to do his bidding and Modise allowed Shaik to side-step
his line manage, the Secretary for Defence, then Lt Gen Pierre
Steyn.
Within the Arms Deal, then Deputy President Thabo Mbeki is
entirely responsible for the conduct of the then Minister of Defence, Joe Modise
- or does one hold the then President Nelson Mandela responsible.
It's
one or the other - that's how responsible governance
works.
*3 Because the bigger fry, like Chippy
Shaik, know too much about roles of the Big Fish, like Mbeki, the ANC and the
foreign armaments suppliers, in the Arms Deal, and because other Big Fish Joe
Modise is dead *4.
*4 Although there is nothing
wrong in the NPA bringing charges against the relevant associated parties, but
the NPA was instructed by some high among us not to "prosecute the dead hero of
the struggle".
*5 Of course, of course, of
course, of course.