Publication	City Press
Date	2011-10-31
Reporter	Editorial
Web Link	www.citypress.com

There are a number of reasons to be critical of the terms of reference for the Seriti Commission of Inquiry into the arms deal.

It doesn’t explicitly state that all hearings will be open to the public, it doesn’t include probing previous (flawed) investigations into the deal and, oddly enough, it threatens people who criticise the commission’s findings with prison sentences.

However, there are many more reasons to celebrate this week’s announcement. A thorough judicial investigation into the R60?billion-transaction has long been written off by critics of the deal.

They had made peace with the fact that only Schabir Shaik and Tony Yengeni – two relatively small fish in the process – were punished by the ­criminal justice system for their misdemeanours.

Now the possibility of action against bigger players is real. Hearing former president Thabo Mbeki, President Jacob Zuma and arms deal playboy Fana Hlongwane testify in the open is no longer a fantasy.

Fasten your seat belts. It’s gonna be a bumpy, yet fascinating, ride.

With acknowledgements to City Press.

Fasten your seat belts at all times, but don't fasten your breath for the Seriti Commission.

The NPA couldn't getting Mbeki, then a sitting president in for an off-the-record discussion about the Arms Deal.

How on earth is Seriti going to get the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth out of him or the incumbent sitting president?