Publication: Sunday Independent Issued: Date: 2008-08-03 Reporter: Chris Makhaye Reporter: Sibusiso Ngalwa Reporter: Jeremy Gordin Reporter: Boyd Webb

Top Judge Hits Back

 

Publication 

Sunday Independent
Date 2008-08-03
Reporter Chris Makhaye, Sibusiso Ngalwa,
Jeremy Gordin, Boyd Webb
Web Link www.sundayindependent.co.za



As the entire ANC leadership heads for Pietermaritzburg in a massive show of support for Jacob Zuma at his court appearance on Monday, Chief Justice Pius Langa has declared that attacks on the judiciary must be firmly "rebuked".

And at his public 90th birthday party in Pretoria on Saturday, flanked by Zuma and President Thabo Mbeki, Nelson Mandela made a pointed call for unity in the ANC.

"Let no individual, section, faction or group ever regard itself as greater than the organisation and the common good of all our people. Our nation comes from a history of deep division and strife. Let us never, through our deeds or words, take our people back down that road," he said.

Langa and Mandela spoke out as Pietermaritzburg braced itself for the largest massing of ANC leaders and supporters in years. They are heading for the Pietermaritzburg high court in a show of solidarity with Zuma and to show their anger at the "continued persecution" of Zuma at the hands of the national prosecuting authority (NPA) and - it has been implied over the years - by the Mbeki coterie in the government.

Zuma appears in the high court on Monday charged with corruption.

Speaking on Friday night, Langa warned that attacks on the judiciary had to be combated because, if they were successful, not only judges would be the victims - the rule of law as a whole and the country's constitutional protections would be seriously damaged.

Langa's comments were also a reaction to a series of "contemptuous", anti-judiciary statements that have emanated from the ANC.

They came as allegations of a new - or rehashed - arms deal "scandal" *1 surfaced on Saturday.

According to the new allegations, the German company MAN Ferrostaal - the lead finance negotiators on behalf of the consortium that won the tender to produce submarines for South Africa - paid Mbeki R30-million to secure contracts in the R30-billion arms deal.

Of this, the president is alleged to have given the ANC R28-million and R2-million to Zuma.

"This is so fantastical a conjecture, it doesn't warrant a response," said Mukoni Ratshitanga, the presidential spokesperson. *2

"I'd like to know if journalism is now a totally allegations-based business or if you guys actually still look at real evidence."

The ANC's comments about the judiciary were provoked by the row between the judges of the constitutional court and John Hlophe, the judge president of the Western Cape. The judges accused Hlophe of trying improperly to influence some of them into making pro-Zuma judgments regarding search-and-seizure warrants used by the NPA.

The constitutional court judges were accused of infringing Hlophe's rights by accusing him publicly. It was seen as a mark of their anti-Zuma sentiment.

After Langa handed down judgment in the matter on Thursday, finding against Zuma, Blade Nzimande, the general secretary of the South African Communist Party, and a number of ANC officials, said the constitutional court's finding was unsurprising because everyone knew how its judges would find.

On Friday, only two days before Zuma was due to step into the dock in Pietermaritzburg, Mathews Phosa, the treasurer-general of the ANC and an attorney, said that the ANC had "noted the comments of the [constitutional court] judges [in the search warrants matter]" but that the judges "needed to know" that "there was another constituency in the country" that did not view things the way they did.

Among the audience listening to Langa deliver the inaugural Chief Justice Ismail Mohamed Memorial Lecture on Friday was Judge Chris Nicholson, who will preside at Zuma's court appearance on Monday and Tuesday.

In terms of an agreement reached in May by Judge Vuka Tshabalala, the judge president of KwaZulu-Natal, NPA representatives, and counsel for Zuma and Thint, the French arms manufacturer, Zuma's trial for money laundering, racketeering and corruption will be adjourned on Monday until December 12.

This is because Zuma is bringing a two-day application to have his trial struck from the court's role on the grounds that his case was not reviewed by the national director of public prosecutions, as is allowed for by the constitution.

It is understood that Nicholson is likely to reserve judgment.

But it is probable that the state will refer Nicholson to Langa's comments in Thursday's Zuma-Thint judgment: "All courts should discourage litigation before [an actual] trial... that seems to delay the commencement of trials."

He added: "Generally, disallowing such litigation would ensure... that trials start sooner rather than later."

In September, Zuma is due to bring an application for a permanent stay of prosecution on the grounds that it is impossible for him to get a fair trial.

If Monday's application is unsuccessful for Zuma, then he will appeal. He will do the same with the September application. So it would appear that on December 12 the main trial will have to be postponed until late next year, if not to 2010.

Zuma's supporters are exploring other ways of ensuring that the long arm of the law does not nab their man.

One option is to alter the constitution - after Zuma is sworn in as president - to block prosecutors from pursuing criminal charges against a sitting president. The French and Italians stopped investigations against their heads of state and the ANC could do the same with a two-thirds majority in parliament.

A document meant for the ANC team charged with reporting to ANC top brass on the controversial arms deal has set out strategies that would assist Zuma in his protracted battle with the NPA.

It was compiled by a team of advisers, including Willem Heath, a former judge, Muxe Nkondo, an academic, and Sipho Seepe, a political commentator.

One option apparently mooted was an amnesty for anyone implicated in the arms deal. But Zuma is known to be against an amnesty of any kind because it implies guilt.

Langa said: "The judiciary is under attack from various quarters. Like all institutions, the judiciary must accept criticism from the public and the media. But such criticism must not be allowed to degenerate into undermining and weakening the judiciary. That is why we should rebuke attempts from some quarters aimed at weakening the judiciary and therefore the rule of law.

"If the judiciary is weakened it will not be the only victim. The rule of law will erode, and the other public institutions that guarantee our constitutional rights will be left unprotected.

Langa said the courts should be left to their work without fear and favour. "They must be allowed to keep state power in check."

Zuma will also receive support on Monday from an unusual constituency - taxi bosses. The connection between the unregulated taxi industry and Zuma was formed at a meeting earlier this year between Zuma and the taxi lords. Apparently, Zuma assured them, soon after his victory in Polokwane, that he was also opposed to their pet hate - the government's multi-billion-rand taxi recapitalisation programme.

"Msholozi told us that he also doesn't understand how the taxi recapitalisation programme can work in rural areas where poor people earn so little and would not afford these vehicles," said Bafana Mhlongo, the general secretary of the KwaZulu-Natal Taxi Alliance.

The alliance announced that taxis would not be operating tomorrow and on Tuesday, but had a rethink following an uproar from business about the economic impact of the move.

Mhlongo said the taxi bosses would be in court to support Zuma and their vehicles would transport people to the hearings.
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* This article was originally published on page 1 of The Sunday Independent on August 03, 2008

With acknowledgements to Chris Makhaye, Sibusiso Ngalwa, Jeremy Gordin, Boyd Webb and Sunday Independent.


*1       I don't think this is a rehashed allegation - it's completely new in this country at least.

The German investigators from the Essen office were on to this matter about a year ago after raiding both Thyssen and Ferrostaal, but political efforts and lack of co-operation closed down both investigations.


*2      I don't think that this person knows the difference between a frigate and a submarine, a Thyssen and a Ferrostaal, a Blohm+Voss or an HDW.


In any case, there are now very credible allegations that :


The only two components of the Arms Deal where thus far no bribery has been alleged are the LUH and maritime patrol helicopter (MPH).

An interesting fact is that both the LUH and MPH were supplied by the company Agusta.

John Bredenkamp's Aircraft Consultancy Services (ACS) is British Aerospace's agent in Southern Africa.

British Aerospace paid massive bribes and "commissions" to win the LIFT and ALFA contracts.

ACS received substantial "commissions" after BAe won the LIFT and ALFA contracts.

John Bredenkamp's Aircraft Consultancy Services (ACS) is Agusta's agent in Southern Africa.


But there's more.

This regards the Agusta helicopter deal - it will soon be revealed.