Cape Town, South Africa - President Jacob Zuma’s announcement on Thursday that a new commission of inquiry will investigate allegations of wrongdoing in South Africa’s multi-billion rand arms deal has been largely received with skepticism. Zuma has requested Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Jeff Radebe to lead the probe of the arms deal involving a US$4.8 billion purchase of weaponry by the South African Government, which was finalised in 1999 and has since been subject to allegations of corruption. 

The Inkatha Freedom Party's Koos van der Merwe expressed reservations about the motives behind the decision.

“The question must be asked: why only now? The arms procurement programme was initiated in the late 90s, and has since the beginning been under a cloud of suspicion of corruption and bribery,” he said.

He said the only logical inference was that all the evidence might now have been destroyed and that the government could therefore finally proceed with such an inquiry.

United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa concurred with these sentiments, saying: “We cannot help but wonder why it has taken so long for the government to do it. Could it be related to the amount of evidence destroyed?”

Helen Zille, leader of the official opposition Democratic Alliance said her party had consistently called for this course of action for nearly 10 years.

“New information concerning alleged corruption in the arms deal is now emerging in Sweden and Germany,” she said, adding that President Zuma must give the commission a full scope to investigate any and all aspects of the arms deal and have the powers to subpoena witnesses and documentation.

The South African Department of Defence's Strategic Defence Acquisition was to modernise its defence equipment, which included the purchase of corvettes, submarines, light utility helicopters, lead-in fighter trainers and advanced light fighter aircraft.

President Zuma's move comes more than a year after activist Terry Crawford-Browne lodged papers in the Constitutional Court in a bid to force the President to reopen the investigation and years after several dossiers with “conclusive” evidence were presented to authorities.

Pana 16/09/2011