Publication	Independent on Saturday
Date	2011-10-22
Reporter	Marianne Merten
Web Link	www.iol.co.za

President Jacob Zuma has missed another deadline – this time to head off the Constitutional Court case related to corruption in the multi-billion rand arms deal – while his to-do list keeps getting longer and rumbles of discontent in the ranks grow louder.

Since the president announced over a month ago that he would appoint a commission of inquiry into the arms deal, anti-arms campaigner Terry Crawford-Browne has been waiting for the terms of reference to be announced before he decides whether or not to withdraw his approach to the court which might see it order such a commission.

The Constitutional Court case remains on the roll for November 17.

All this could not have come at a worse time for Zuma, under pressure to deal with an ever burgeoning in-tray.

An embattled Zuma is not helped by one of his own ministers, Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde, the Public Works Minister he is said to have shielded against the damning public protector findings of maladministration and unlawful conduct over the controversial R1.7 billion police head offices saga.

Mahlangu-Nkabinde’s department admitted it had supplied incorrect information to Parliament, in a Parliamentary reply by the minister which said almost R170 million would be spent on renovating the two presidential homes, including installation of a sauna.

Meanwhile, this week’s announcement that the 2006 Donen Commission of Inquiry report would be released was triggered by an approach to the courts.

The commission investigated claims that South African companies, and individuals including Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale, were implicated in the abuse of the UN’s oil-for-food programme in Iraq, peddling political influence in exchange for kickbacks on Iraqi oil purchases.

Leaked versions of the report name Motlanthe and Sexwale – seen as Zuma’s main rivals, come the ANC’s 2012 elective conference in Mangaung. Both declined to comment this week.

Many analysts and commentators interpreted the announcement as another move in ANC internal power politics.

Zuma is running against the clock with regards to the public protector recommendation for “strong action” within 60 days against Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Sicelo Shiceka, who was found to have acted dishonestly and unlawfully and whose conduct the public protector said amounted to maladministration over a trip to Switzerland to visit a jailed girlfriend and a series of stays at luxury hotels.

The future of national police commissioner General Bheki Cele also remains unclear since the president, at the end of August, asked Cele for reasons why he should not be suspended pending the outcome of an inquiry related to the police leases.

The presidency said this week there would be action “very soon” on all counts.

With acknowledgements to Marianne Merten and Independent on Saturday.