Posts

Van Vuuren defiant at Seriti Commission

By Lee-Ann Alfreds Hennie van Vuuren, the arms deal critic who withdrew from the Arms Procurement Commission in August, appeared before it on Monday, 20 October, as instructed. The week before, Van Vuuren told Corruption Watch that "I have been summonsed to appear on 20 October and will be at the Arms Procurement Commission at Read more >

Respond to subpoena, or face criminal charges

By Lee-Ann Alfreds Will they or won’t they? That is the question as the rumbling around the credibility of the Arms Procurement Commission becomes a roar. Will arms deal critics Hennie van Vuuren, Andrew Feinstein and Paul Holden appear before the commission as they have been ordered to do – or will they obey their Read more >

Arms deal commission, phase one – a summary

By Lee-Ann Alfreds Almost one year after the start of proceedings, the first phase of public hearings of the Arms Procurement Commission has drawn to a close. But little – if anything – new has been learnt of South Africa’s controversial 1999 arms deal which the commission has been tasked with investigating. “Nothing came to Read more >

Will the Seriti Commission run out of time?

By Lee-Ann Alfreds While contracts, national industrial participation programmes, defence industrial participation programmes, credits, multipliers, scores and offsets have had a lot of airing at the Arms Procurement Commission taking place in Pretoria, they are not the word that has been heard most frequently over the last eight months. That word is adjournment. For since Read more >

Not perfect, but commission can still produce results

By Lee-Ann Alfreds His appearance was greeted with fanfare and excitement after months of dry and technical testimony by largely-unknown flunkies and officials. But then, former trade and industry minister Alec Erwin came and went in the blink of an eye – and fears for the credibility of the Arms Procurement Commission went into overdrive. Read more >

Fighting the good fight

By Lee-Ann Alfreds Their breadth of recall is mind-boggling. Dates, figures, names and irregularities that several official investigations have tried – unsuccessfully – to unravel for over 15 years, these are the details that arms deal activist Terry Crawford-Browne and whistleblower Richard Young readily have at their fingertips. It’s not surprising, though, as both have Read more >