Anti-corruption crusader Terry Crawford-Browne "has failed to make a case"
against the government in his latest legal battle regarding the controversial,
multi-billion-rand arms deal, says President Jacob Zuma.
The president was responding to an action Crawford-Browne instituted against the
president and the government.
To illustrate that he had failed to make a case, Zuma listed 16 complaints
against Crawford-Browne's claim.
In the action, Crawford-Browne has accused the president of failing his country
by refusing to appoint an independent judicial commission of inquiry into
allegations of corruption in the arms deal.
The refusal was inconsistent with the constitution, he said, and he demanded an
inquiry. In court papers, it emerged that then-president Kgalema Motlanthe had
received a request last December to appoint a commission of inquiry into the
arms deal.
The request was made in a joint open letter by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu
and former president FW de Klerk, and supported by "eminent South Africans",
including the late Helen Suzman and UCT vice-chancellor Mamphela Ramphele.
However, the request was refused when Motlanthe responded in writing that the
issue had been investigated by the Joint Investigating Team, and that a
commission of inquiry would not assist in bringing about greater clarity.
But Crawford-Browne argues that there is no substance or merit in the reasons
given.
He followed up with a letter of demand on January 7. When he did not receive a
response, he instituted the action, serving the summons on the government's
legal representatives on January 22.
The president has not responded to the merits of Crawford-Browne's claim, but
filed a notice of his intention to take exception to the claim, saying that
Crawford-Browne had not made a case.
Zuma said he was unable to properly plead to the allegations, describing
portions of Crawford-Browne's papers as "vague and embarrassing".
Crawford-Browne claimed that he had instituted the action in the public
interest.
However, the government said he did not set out which constitutional rights he
intended to rely on, in order to establish his standing to institute the
proceedings.
In court papers, Crawford-Browne referred to an article published in a Sunday
newspaper. However, according to the government, he failed to give the exact
date of the publication or to attach a copy of it to his papers.
Crawford-Browne said in his papers that he had laid criminal complaints relating
to alleged impropriety in the arms deal.
However, according to the government, he did not give any details about the
complaints or attach a case number to his papers.
Last month Crawford-Browne filed a notice to amend his claim, but the government
has objected to it, saying that the proposed amendment failed to address the
complaints it initially raised.
The president said 12 of his complaints were not addressed in Crawford-Browne's
proposed amendment.
This article was originally published on page 10 of
The Daily
News on July 09, 2009