All news items
19 June 2014
Lawyers want access to arms deal docs
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) needs access to key evidence in the Seriti Commission of Inquiry to help the commission, it said on Wednesday.
“It is important to note that these documents are vital in enabling us to prepare properly to give our evidence during phase II of the hearings, expected to begin in July,” LHR said in a statement.
“...
15 June 2014
Don’t expect fireworks when Thabo Mbeki takes the stand at the arms deal inquiry. During the recent Arms Procurement Commission hearings in Pretoria, his former colleagues have presented a united front, telling the commission that the 1999 arms deal arose from legitimate defence policy, the equipment was essential, the deal was subject to public oversight, and it was fair and...
15 June 2014
This is cell 14, into which warders smuggle everything from shopping bags full of hard drugs to juvenile prisoners for inmates to rape.
Graphic details of what happens inside the 168m² cell in Leeuhof Prison, outside Vereeniging, were revealed to City Press in 300 text messages and 80 cellphone pictures by inmate and fraud accused Eugene Viljoen.
Viljoen – who for three months shared...
13 June 2014
Former finance minister Trevor Manuel has denied telling former African National Congress (ANC) MP Andrew Feinstein possible wrongdoing in the 1999 arms deal would not be uncovered.
Mr Manuel was testifying on Thursday before the Arms Procurement Commission into fraud, corruption, impropriety or irregularity in the government’s acquisition of arms worth R29.9bn.
Mr Manuel was cross-...
13 June 2014
The odds are stacked against the truth in the Seriti Commission of Inquiry probing allegations of fraud and corruption in the multi-billion rand arms deal.
That’s the view of one of the deal’s main critics, Hennie van Vuuren.
Van Vuuren has criticised the performance of former government ministers who have testified so far, and the way the commission has been conducted.
I think...
12 June 2014
Former finance minister Trevor Manuel says he was convinced that the arms package selected by the South African National Defence Force was affordable and within the government’s fiscal envelope.
Mr Manuel, who was minister of finance from 1996 to 2009, was testifying before the Arms Procurement Commission on Wednesday, which is investigating allegations of fraud, corruption, impropriety or...
11 June 2014
Lekota rejects assertion that ANC benefited from arm deals
Cope leader Mosiuoa Lekota gave evidence at the arms deal commission on Wednesday morning. He had been defence minister for six months when the R70-billion arms deal was signed, in 1999.
On Wednesday, advocate Anna-Marie De Vos, for Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), asked Lekota if he knew whether the ANC had benefited from the deal...
11 June 2014
At a meeting in August 1998, government apparently decided to buy expensive Hawk trainer jets instead of cheaper options available, as part of the arms deal packages, according to minutes prepared by Chippy Shaik.
Government has always maintained the Hawk planes were the best option available, so it was prepared to pay the extra amount. Now another set of minutes from that meeting has emerged at...
11 June 2014
Minutes in arms deal missing
It was a massive project, but there were some gaps in the ministers’ filing.
The government’s chief negotiator for the 1999 arms deal, Jayendra Naidoo, told the Arms Procurement Commission that “the negotiation process was conducted with great intensity and professionalism by the departments and officials participating. The result was a consensus...
11 June 2014
Human rights lawyers take on Judge Willie Seriti
Lawyers for Human Rights took Judge Willie Seriti on when he tried to prevent questions relating to claims that the offsets from the multibillion-rand arms deal were a total failure.
The offsets were promises that the arms companies made to invest in businesses in South Africa in return for which their offerings were given preferential status....