So, all those years back, Noseweek was right: last month the Mail & Guardian reported that German detectives had found documentary evidence to show that ANC luminary Tony Yengeni signed a R6-million bribe agreement with an arms bidder while he headed Parliament’s joint standing committee on defence in 1995, and had visited Zurich at key dates.

In April 2001, Noseweek reported that, three months earlier, senior ANC comrades had been called to a secret meeting at the home of then-ANC Chief Whip Yengeni. The source said those who qualified for official travel privileges were warned not to use them when booking flights, as they could be more easily traced.

Top of the agenda was what to do about the probe – called by the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) – into the arms procurement programme, due to start early in 2001.

Yengeni was Chief Whip and had chaired the Defence Committee at the time the weapons deals were concluded.

“I and others have money in our bank accounts we can’t explain,” Yengeni told those gathered at his home in December, 2000 “We don’t intend to explain it to anyone, either. We deserve it,” he declared.

Soon afterwards Yengeni took personal control of Scopa and it was goodbye to Andrew Feinstein, the ANC MP who had been in charge of it and had  supported the call for an investigation.

As Noseweek observed: “So much for the government’s commitment to exposing the truth.”

Feinstein has subsequently become  an activist campaigning not only to have the bribery and corruption in South Africa’s Arms Deal exposed, but in the arms trade worldwide.

With acknowledgement to Noseweek.

It's all in them doccies that just cannot go away.

In addition to his millions in cash from the Germam Frigate Consortium, Yengeni also got three cars from Mickey Woerful, local MD of Daimler-Chrysler Aerospace, another member of the German wolf pack called the German Strategic Alliance which was then hunting down the entire Arms Deal for itself.

One 4x4 Merc for himself, one sportscar for wifey and one for girly.

Tony even tested drove his ML320 on a farm in Firgrove belonging to a German who was almost surely a member of the wolf pack.

CEO of Armscor, Llew Swan also got a hefty discount from Woerful, also on an ML320.

Luverly, luverly, luverly.

Yet he was not charged.

Instead, he fled with his Ferrostaal millions and Arms Deal co-criminal Tony Ellingford to Brisbane.

Far from the reach of the long arm of the law *1


*1      As it turned out, under Menzi Simelane and Anwar Dramat, the very short reach of South African law.

Very short indeed.

At least my memory is longer than that.