Programme News
31 July 2014
(News)
ANALYSIS: A recurring line from those trying to dismiss allegations of corruption in the Arms Deal is: “Show us the evidence.”
During his testimony at the Seriti Commission two weeks ago, former president Mbeki took an opportunity to lash out at critics, saying: “For all of these years we have been saying, let this evidence be produced so that action can be taken.”...
25 July 2014
(Press release)
The undersigned organisations, meeting at the Public Interest Law Gathering in Johannesburg, condemn the conviction and unreasonable sentence handed down by Judge Mpendulo Simelane in the Mbabane High Court in Swaziland.
Last week, Judge Simelane found human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko and magazine editor Bheki Makhubu guilty of contempt of court and today sentenced them to a two-year jail...
21 July 2014
(News)
Phase two of the arms procurement commission’s public hearings will start on Monday. Now, the commission will deal with the second leg of its terms of reference: allegations of fraud and corruption. It has called a number of authors, arms deal critics and activists, to present evidence.
Richard Young will be this phase’s first witness. Besides being the first of the so-called “...
21 July 2014
(News)
Zimbabwe will be able to support any influx of deportees from South Africa and Botswana, according to the minister of home affairs, Kembo Mohadi.
There are indications that the two neighbouring countries might start deporting a large number of undocumented Zimbabweans.
South Africa has introduced stringent immigration laws which will compel 250 000 Zimbabweans who benefited from a...
19 July 2014
(News)
The purchasing of the Gripen and Hawk fighter jets during the 1999 arms deal remains sullied with allegations of bribery and rigged tender processes. It has been the subject of international and local investigations.
On Friday, former president Thabo Mbeki said he knew nothing about the controversy. Mbeki also denied any knowledge of an investigation by the US into the purchasing of fighter...
19 July 2014
(News)
Former president Thabo Mbeki was asked to tell the Seriti Commission of Inquiry on Friday how his administration justified spending billions on the arms deal but not on antiretrovirals (ARVs) in 1999.
“It is wrong to only discuss the costs when talking about HIV/Aids, look at government policy,” he told the commission sitting in Pretoria.
“I don't know if this is part...
19 July 2014
(News)
Former president Thabo Mbeki’s handling of anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment for HIV patients has been questioned at the arms deal inquiry.
He was testifying at the Seriti Commission of Inquiry into alleged fraud and corruption in the multibillion rand procurement deal.
Mbeki’s record on HIV and Aids has long been controversial, particularly due to the time it took government to...
18 July 2014
(News)
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) has launched an urgent application in the North Gauteng High Court to seek life-saving treatment for a 12-year old Somalian girl who may die because she is undocumented and cannot pay a quarter million rand bond for surgery. AAISHA DADI PATEL reports.
The girl arrived in South Africa on July 4 as an asylum seeker, with the intention of applying for...
18 July 2014
(News)
No heart surgery for ailing girl
The 10-day journey from war-torn Somalia to South Africa was tough, but it was the start of a better life for the 12-year-old.
Or so she thought.
The girl, whose unemployed and widowed mother remains in Mogadishu, planned to live with her brother in Pretoria, where he runs a small shop.
But just a day after she arrived in the country on July 4, she collapsed and...
17 July 2014
(News)
“First of all one has to ask the question: is he complicit? My answer [is stated] clearly in my book and in the statements that I have made subsequently, I would suggest yes.” – Andrew Feinstein.
It is probably not an unfair assumption that, in 1999 when the arms deal was signed under his watch, it would have been unthinkable to then-president Thabo Mbeki that he would be...