SAS Amatola
Image by: Jackie Clausen / Sunday Times
 

A veil of secrecy surrounds the Seriti Commission into the arms deal, with witnesses being forced to sign gagging orders before being allowed to see sensitive government documents.

Former banker Terry Crawford-Browne discovered this when he asked to see the files containing negotiating papers for the loan agreements of the R70-billion arms deal.

"The contents of the documents are to be kept confidential by all those given access to the documents and are not to be discussed with or revealed in any way to any other person," the agreement seen by The Times reads.

"The contents of the documents may not be published or disseminated in any way [to] any other person."

This also applies to "any notes made by Crawford-Browne or any members of the legal team in relation to the contents of the documents".

Any documents marked "classified" must be flagged and "drawn to the attention of the Arms Procurement Commission".

Judge Willie Seriti's spokesman, William Baloyi, said this was not a "gagging order".

However, he admitted that "some of the documents in the commission's possession are classified and the laws relating to such documents have to be complied with".

"It is only in relation to classified documents that the witnesses were required to sign undertakings of non-disclosure before they could have access to same, and there is nothing sinister about this.

"The critical point is that all relevant information will be disclosed during the course of the public hearings."

But Crawford-Browne said Seriti's reasoning was absurd. The fact that state documents were supplied to a supposedly independent commission holding public hearings meant by definition that they were no longer deemed secret, he said. Crawford-Browne had signed the "silly document" under duress "because we don't want this thing spun out for another five years".

Other witnesses, who have not requested documents yet, said they would refuse to sign such an agreement if asked.

The commission was recently rocked by the resignation of senior investigator Mokgale Moabi, who accused Seriti of frustrating efforts to expose the truth about the arms deal and of seeking to muzzle witnesses "making noises in the public media". Seriti has denied pursuing a hidden agenda, and has challenged Moabi to provide proof.

But Crawford-Browne's gagging order provides proof that Seriti's alleged agenda is already being implemented.

The Times has also learned how internal squabbles have almost led to two other members quitting. The postponement of hearings scheduled for this week - as the commission concedes it has run out of funds, with little to show for a year of work - adds to the picture of an institution in chaos.

It was reported on Friday that it had spent its R40-million budget, including on extravagant overseas trips that entailed five-star hotel stays for Seriti.

Baloyi defended Seriti's stay at top hotels in Europe for logistical reasons "and, of course, his status".

Witnesses said they increasingly doubted the commission's credibility.

"I'm only there under threat of being thrown in jail for the weekend with Oscar Pistorius," said businessman Richard Young, a losing bidder and veteran*1 campaigner for arms deal corruption to be properly investigated.

"I am not a willing participant because I don't trust the bona fides of the commission."

The commission rescheduled hearings to August 5 because it was ''swamped with paperwork".

But Moabi doubts this excuse. He wrote to the commission last week that he did not "believe a word of what is offered as reasons for the postponement".

"The exposure of the second agenda has necessitated the commission to rearrange, re-manage and reschedule its operations so as to bring some measure of respectability to its image," he said

With acknowledgement to Mzilikazi Wa Afrika, Stephan Hofstatter and Sunday Times.

*1       Veteran indeed.

I started off this nonsense at the tender age of 40. Now I'm a veteran. Maybe I get an emolument among with the other SANDF veterans.

Maybe immolument.