While President Kgalema Motlanthe may have had his reasons for not establishing a commission of inquiry on the arms deal, it still looks bad.
This week his spokesperson repeated the government’s time-worn response: that if anyone has information implicating individuals in the arms deal, forward this information to the law-enforcement agencies.
Spokesperson Thabo Masebe said Motlanthe was convinced that a commission would not be an appropriate tool to investigate the alleged shenanigans. “There is already an investigation in some of these matters and we are confident that our law-enforcement agencies are capable of handling any allegations pertaining to the arms deal,” Masebe said.
All this comes as Fana Hlongwane — who served as special adviser to late defence minister Joe Modise — had five foreign bank accounts frozen, blocking more than R160-million.
Hlongwane apparently received “commission” payments totalling R280-million. The Scorpions in September received a request for information from a judge in Liechtenstein, saying it was suspected that frozen assets belonging to Hlongwane were linked with “active and passive bribery”.
Allegations of bribery and corruption surrounding the arms deal have been a constant refrain in South Africa for years.
While all this is still under investigation by the British Serious Fraud Office and the Scorpions, the least that Motlanthe could have done this week is to acknowledge the ongoing investigation and promise to keep South Africans briefed on its progress. Or perhaps that isn’t his job.
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Most-read stories
December 4 to 10
1. How arms-deal ‘bribes’ were paid
Dramatic new evidence of corruption in the arms deal is disclosed in documents used by the Scorpions to motivate for last week’s raids on premises countrywide.
2. Ginwala absolves Mbeki
The confidential report of the Ginwala commission clears former president Thabo Mbeki of an abuse of executive power, finding that he did not interfere in the arrest and prosecution of police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi.
3. ANC bid to weed out defectors
The ANC is planning to kick out all “disloyal” members from the party — including former deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka — suspected of being linked to the Congress of the People (Cope) before they can announce their defection.
4. Eminent leaders wives’ club sign up for Cope
The wife of suspended Scorpions boss Vusi Pikoli has emerged a key organiser for the Congress of the People (Cope).
5. Mugabe rejects Western pressure
Zimbabwe has again accused Britain and the United States of plotting an invasion, following mounting international pressure on President Robert Mugabe to resign, Mugabe’s spokesperson said on Tuesday.
6. Britain plots Zim invasion, says Mugabe’s govt
Zimbabwe’s government has accused former colonial ruler Britain of using a cholera epidemic to rally Western support for an invasion of the collapsing country, a state-run newspaper said on Sunday.
7. Bloody invasions revisit Zimbabwe
An elderly victim of the latest wave of land invasions in Zimbabwe is still recovering in hospital two weeks after his wife was bludgeoned to death and he was left for dead, allegedly by war veterans.
8. Cope leadership to be decided on a ‘consensus basis’
The Congress of the People’s (Cope) inaugural conference in Bloemfontein will not be turned into another Polokwane, with jostling for positions.
9. How phones nailed Najwa
Taliep Petersen’s wife might have walked free if it weren’t for cellphone records that allowed an expert to track Najwa Petersen’s movements from room to room in her house.
10. Motlanthe decides against reinstating Pikoli
President Kgalema Motlanthe has decided against keeping Vusi Pikoli on as national director of public prosecutions.