South Africa’s decision to shop for weapons more than 15 years ago may be a distant memory, but the fight to expose wrongdoing in the deal is far from dead, reports Andre Jurgens

Sir, unlike the dodo, the arms deal is not extinct

THEY wore spectacles and expressions that betrayed years of litigation and animosity.

They were two pensioners engaged in a cold war over a deal worth billions of rands that left a lingering stench of corruption in international company boardrooms, the corridors of political power in South Africa and the office of President Jacob Zuma.

“I’m just a citizen now, a pensioner,” said former finance minister Trevor Manuel when he testified this week at the Seriti arms procurement commission, which is probing allegations of graft in South Africa’s arms deal.

To his left sat the man he reportedly dubbed “the gorilla on my back”, anti-apartheid activist and retired banker Terry Crawford-Browne, who spent his life savings fighting the deal now estimated to have cost R70-billion.

“I believe that the selected package was affordable and within government’s fiscal envelope,” said Manuel. He signed loan agreements with four international banks in 1999 to buy frigates, submarines, fighter aircraft and helicopters to replenish South Africa’s ageing defence force equipment stores.

Critics, including Crawford-Browne, have long held that the deal was riddled with corruption and amounted to an elaborate confidence trick in which arms companies promised offsets ­ or countertrade ­ worth R100-billion and the creation of 65 000 jobs. They did not materialise.

So far, two so-called small fish have been convicted of crimes related to subcontracts in the deal: former ANC chief whip Tony Yengeni, who received a discounted luxury vehicle, and businessman Schabir Shaik, who solicited a bribe from an arms company on behalf of Zuma. To date, Zuma has sidestepped having to answer allegations of corruption in court.

The Sunday Times has documented several mechanical mishaps with the frigates and submarines. Many of the sophisticated fighter jets are in storage. Budgetary constraints have curtailed the navy’s ability to keep its fleet at sea and the air force its jets in the sky.

The deal was a turning point for South Africa. Former ANC MP Andrew Feinstein said earlier this year: “To many, the arms deal was the point at which the ANC lost its moral compass.”

This week, Crawford-Browne got his chance ­ after years of unsuccessful litigation against the deal and Manuel ­ to cross-examine the former finance minister.

Manuel, he said, was reckless to sign the loans when serious corruption allegations had surfaced.

But he was outflanked by Manuel’s legal team, who said his questions included “scandalous and scurrilous” statements about the former minister.

The two men traded barbs on Thursday. Manuel, replying to a question on the government doing its homework, said: “If indeed Mr Crawford-Browne were an international banker, he would know how these things work . . .”

Crawford-Browne was stopped in his tracks after repeated warnings by commission chairman Judge Willie Seriti about his questions, many straying into territory already adjudicated on by the courts in litigation against Manuel.

“It’s exactly the same issue that he reconjures time after time . . . This matter is well and truly, like the dodo, now extinct,” said Manuel.

“Sir, unlike the dodo, the arms deal is not extinct,” retorted Crawford-Browne. But he had been mauled in this round of the battle.

The commission effectively owes its existence to Crawford-Browne, a former End Conscription Campaign activist, who went to court in a bid to force the appointment of a judicial review of the deal. Zuma decided instead to appoint his own commission of inquiry.

Earlier this week, Ronnie Kasrils and Mosiuoa Lekota, former deputy minister and minister of defence, respectively, defended the deal. Lekota, however, said Zuma should answer to allegations of corruption.

Former president Thabo Mbeki will be the last to give evidence in phase one of the commission, which is looking at the rationale behind the deal.

The next ­ meatier ­ phase will explore corruption.

Two men implicated in alleged bribery ­ Fana Hlongwane and Shamin “Chippy” Shaik ­ are due to testify.

The Sunday Times has previously reported damning allegations that a British arms company bribed top South African politicians and funnelled payments to Hlongwane, a former adviser of late defence minister Joe Modise.

Shaik allegedly asked for a $3-million (R32-million at current rates) “success” fee from a German consortium that sold four frigates to South Africa.

Feinstein, who said Manuel interfered with attempts by parliament to probe alleged corruption, said: “We cannot allow the commission to fail its mandate and the South African people. At least four other investigations into the arms deal have failed in the past 15 years because of political interference.”

With acknowledgement to Andre Jurgens and Sunday Times.