Programme News
23 April 2014
(News)
Government officials are explaining the arms deal at the official inquiry, but much of the detail remains blocked by the commission itself.
Earlier this month, National Treasury deputy director-general Andrew Donaldson provided a detailed submission of the costs of the controversial 1999 arms deal to the Arms Procurement Commission.
The costs of the deal have been a key point of criticism...
22 April 2014
(News)
United Democratic Movement (UDM) spokesperson on Finance and Economic matters, Nqabayomzi Kwankwa, says those who were implicated in the alleged looting of state funds towards the end of the apartheid rule should be held accountable.
“Corruption and it should be dealt with the same way that we have been saying the South African government should deal with the arms deal. That's...
14 April 2014
(News)
The Seriti Commission of Inquiry says the resignation of the chief evidence leader Tayob Aboobaker will not affect its work or public hearings being held in Pretoria.
The commission was appointed by President Jacob Zuma to investigate the procurement of arms from French, British and Swedish countries by former President Thabo Mbeki's administration.
The arms deal cost South Africa billions of...
10 April 2014
(News)
The arms deal cost a total of R46.666 billion.
That is the official figure for the 1999 Strategic Defence Procurement Package (SDPP) from the Treasury.
“The total nominal expenditure (that is the total cash outlay) on the SDPP between 2000/01 and 2013/14 has been R46 666 million,” said Treasury deputy director-general Andrew Donaldson.
The deal was financed through loans from foreign...
10 April 2014
(News)
South Africa positions itself as a continental leader, but the domestic reality is very different with immigration policies becoming increasingly stringent. This not only sanctions xenophobia but also exacerbates the country’s skills shortage.
According to a recent report on xenophobia in South Africa by Heribert Adam and Kogila Moodley titled Imagined Liberation: Xenophobia, Citizenship...
20 March 2014
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) is alarmed by the irregular arrest and detention of prominent Swazi human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko and editor-in-chief of The Nation magazine, Bhekithemba Makhubu and call on Swazi authorities to provide them immediate access to their lawyers.
The men were arrested and detained on Monday (18 March 2014) after The Nation published two articles by Maseko in...
9 March 2014
(News)
South Africa’s controversial Strategic Defence Packages have thrown up some spectacular numbers, but few as remarkable as those required by Judge Willie Seriti of arms deal critic Richard Young before Young would be in a position to cross-examine Armscor witness Frits Nortje.
To comply with directives issued by Judge Seriti, the chairman of the Arms Procurement Commission (APC), Young would...
5 March 2014
(News)
ARMSCOR’s counter-trade agreements with foreign arms suppliers outside of the 1999 arms deal amounted to R5.4bn between 1988 and 2000, the Arms Procurement Commission heard on Tuesday.
Johannes Bernhardus de Beer, Armscor’s manager of defence industrial participation agreements, was testifying about the origin and rationale of the concept of Defence Industrial Participation within...
1 March 2014
(News)
Andrew Feinstein, former ANC MP and author of The Shadow World: Inside the global arms trade, was interviewed by Power FM's Chris Vick about the Seriti Commission of Inquiry into the arms deal.
28 February 2014
(Press release)
Paul Holden and I have cooperated with the Arms Procurement Commission since its inception in the hope that it would finally reveal the full truth of the notorious Arms Deal that will ultimately cost the South African taxpayer around R70-billion.
From early on in its existence I offered to assist the Commission in any way I could. Members of the research team asked me to introduce them to...