Former president Jacob Zuma and former president Nelson Mandela.
(Photo by Media24/Gallo Images/Getty Images)
Former president Jacob Zuma has implicated South Africa’s founding democratic president, the late Nelson Mandela, and his foundation, in having benefited from the 1990s arms deal in a letter seen by the Mail & Guardian.
Zuma, through his attorneys, wrote to the Nelson Mandela Foundation on 21 July seeking a list of documents that he said would prove his innocence in the state’s case against him at the Pietermaritzburg high court.
In the three-page letter, signed by attorney Bethuel Thusini, Zuma requests documents relating to payments that were made to the foundation by bidders in the government’s arms tender procurement programme.
Mandela, the first president of democratic South Africa from 1994 to 1999, died in December 2013.
Chief executive Sello Hatang said the Nelson Mandela Foundation had not received any correspondence from Zuma.
In the letter, Thusini writes that Zuma instructed his lawyers to write to the foundation as the entity that was entirely responsible for the strategic defence packages — commonly known as the arms deal — which involved the procurement of arms for the defence of the republic in early 1998.
The attorney states that the preferred lenders for the historic packages were approved by the cabinet on 18 November 1998.
He writes that then deputy president Thabo Mbeki chaired the cabinet sub-committee overseeing the tender adjudication process undertaken by arms-procurement parastatal Armscor on behalf of the departments of defence, trade and industry and finance.
“The recordings of cabinet meetings of October 1998 and November 1998 on the strategic defence packages reflect that former president of the ANC and republic of South Africa, Dr Mandela, was the presiding chair of the cabinet meetings,” the letter reads.
Through the strategic defence-procurement packages the government acquired, among other hardware, 26 Gripen fighter aircraft and 24 Hawk lead-in fighter trainer aircraft for the airforce, and frigates and submarines for the navy.
Zuma is currently serving a 15-month jail sentence for contempt over his refusal to abide by subpoenas to make a further appearance at the Zondo commission into state capture.
The former president is also facing a potential 15 years in jail over a separate corruption case stemming from the 1990s arms deal and a series of payments made via his financial advisor Schabir Shaik and French arms company Thint (now Thales).
Shaik was jailed for 15 years over the payments, which were made to Zuma while he was KwaZulu-Natal economic development MEC and ANC national chairperson.
In the letter, Zuma’s attorneys wrote that “a significant component of the case against our client is that he was involved in corrupt activities offering protection to the person and or companies with commercial interest in the strategic packages in return for personal financial benefits”.
“In the judgment of the late Judge Hillary Squires in 2005, our client was implicated in having used his position in government as MEC (member of the executive council) of economic development in KwaZulu-Natal, deputy president and president in a generally corrupt manner to advance the interests of persons or companies that were involved in tendering for contracts in the strategic defence packages.
“Our client denies most vehemently that he was involved in any corrupt relationship with anyone, including anyone who had an interest in the strategic defence packages or that he had any personal financial benefit from this transaction in any manner including a corrupt manner,” the letter adds.
To properly advance his defence, Zuma adds that he has been advised to obtain relevant information that he was aware is within the custody or knowledge of Armscor and which is relevant to the defence that he was not a beneficiary of any financial reward arising from his various roles in government.
Zuma is requesting that the Nelson Mandela Foundation furnish him with:
- List of all and any foreign payments received from any German-based defence industry companies associated with the strategic defence packages during the 1997-98 and 1999-2000 financial years;
- List of any foreigh payments received from French-based defence industry companies associated with strategic defence packages during 1997-98 and 1999-2000 financial years;
- List of all and any foreign or local payments received from any companies representing or making payments on behalf of Thint SA/France and or African Defence Systems and all or any companies associated with Alain Thétard, a senior Thint SA executive during the 2003-04 and 2004-05 financial years;
- List of all and any payments received from Tony Georgiadis (a Greek citizen living in London) and or any companies associated with Georgiadis during the 1997-98, 1998-99 and 1999-2000 financial years;
- List of all and any payments received from Yusuf Surtee and or any companies associated with Surtee and or any immediate family of member of Surtee during the 1997-98, 1998-99 and 1999-2000 financial years;
- List of all and any payments received from Dr Bill Venter and/or Venter’s family members and/or the Alton Group of companies and/or Altech Defence Systems during the 1997-98, 1998-99 and 1999-2000 financial years.
In the letter, addressed to Professor Njabulo Ndebele, chairman of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Zuma adds that evidence submitted to the inquiry by judges Willie Seriti and Thekiso Hendrick Musi implicated both Mandela and the foundation.
He writes that during the Seriti inquiry Colonel Johan du Plooy and Richard Young testified about an investigation by the Germans that revealed the foundation “may have received payment and/or donations from the German and French companies or consortia” that were appointed by South Africa in the arms deal after the awarding of four corvette ship contracts by the government to a German consortium.
“[The] NPA [National Prosecuting Authority] also uncovered documentary evidence that suggests that Dr Nelson Mandela may have had a direct role in decisions over the selecting some of the successful contractors and subcontractors to the strategic defense procurement package,” the letter says.
Zuma also states that there is evidence that the ANC received financial donations from Thales or parties acting on its behalf for the NPA not to bring corruption charges against the French company and African Defence Systems, a company that formed part of the consortium that won the bid in the arms deal to provide combat munitions suites for the navy’s new corvettes from 2002 until 2004.
Zuma’s corruption trial was postponed on 10 August after an affidavit was submitted in court from his doctor, Brigadier General Mcebisi Mdutywa, stating that he was undergoing “extensive medical evaluation and care as a result of his condition that needed an extensive emergency procedure that has been delayed for 18 months due to compounding legal matters and recent incarceration”.
Mdutywa said the procedure “cannot be delayed any longer, as it carries a significant risk to his life”.
Mdutywa said Zuma’s condition was being constantly monitored and the treatment he required should take about six months “to restore his health”.
Zuma — whose arrest triggered unrest classified by President Cyril Ramaphosa as an attempt at an insurrection —- said he was aware that disclosure of these facts and the request of information would be used as political propaganda against the ANC.
His attorneys wrote that Zuma was aware that those opposed to the ANC as the strategic leader of liberation may undermine its authority to speak and act against corruption, but believed this was unavoidable in his quest to prove his innocence.
“He is required to demonstrate that it was not possible for him as an individual in his capacity in the party and government to have provided any protection from an investigation of corruption that allegedly involved in these transactions,” the letter reads.
News24 recently reported that Zuma’s lawyers had written to ANC treasurer general Paul Mashatile seeking the party’s financial documents dating back to the early 2000s.
In a letter seen by M&G, Mashatile responded through his attorneys that he had embarked on a diligent search for the documents, which could not be found.
Mashatile’s attorneys said documents predating 2005 had been destroyed in flooding that occurred in an archive building, adding that the ANC had no audited financial statements for the period from 1997 until 2000.
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