[DEBATE] : (Fwd) ANCrony capitalism now rather embarrassing

[Patrick Bond]

(Oops. I spoke too soon.)

The Mercury

No need for arms deal inquiry, says Motlanthe

December 11, 2008 Edition 1

Angela Quintal

JOHANNESBURG: A renewed campaign by leading South Africans to force the 
government to cancel the arms deal and recover billions of rands in 
public money has failed to persuade President Kgalema Motlanthe to break 
ranks with his comrades.

Yesterday, he stuck to the view of his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, and the 
ANC that those with information about alleged wrongdoing should hand it 
over to the police.

The presidency confirmed yesterday that Motlanthe would write to Nobel 
laureates Desmond Tutu and F W de Klerk, rejecting their call for a 
judicial commission of inquiry into the arms deal.

The campaign is backed by eminent citizens, including Archbishop Thabo 
Makgoba, Helen Suzman, Mamphela Ramphele, Rhoda Kadalie, Ingrid Uys, 
Hugh Corder, Jeremy Sarkin and Jeremy Routledge.
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Raenette Taljaard, of the Helen Suzman Foundation, said yesterday: "The 
public deserve better than to see their institutions permanently 
affected by the unresolved questions about the arms deal."

Terry Crawford-Browne, one of the petition's organisers, said: "The 
government has tried for 10 years to squelch the arms deal scandal, but 
it keeps coming back and will continue to do so until it is resolved."

ID leader Patricia de Lille said the ANC failed to grasp that "our 
democracy was bigger than those in the ruling party who had diverted 
billions of rands" from the poor.

DA MP Eddie Trent said Motlanthe had shown himself to be "a loyal cadre 
of the ANC first, a servant of the people of SA second".