We Told You 16 Years Ago!

Readers knew all about Zuma’s French arms deal bribes in 2003

The more recent mobilisation of the National Prosecuting Authority to resume the previously abandoned prosecution of Jacob Zuma is one of the few signs of what was promised would be a “new dawn” for South Africa. It is particularly appropriate that the prosecution is for crimes allegedly committed in relation to the massive arms deals concluded with various European suppliers in 1999, because those deals compromised the entire ANC hierarchy – former president Thabo Mbeki included – setting the pattern for the massive diversion of state resources to corrupt purposes that has continued ever since, resulting in the perilous economic situation the country finds itself in 20 years later.

As is invariably the case, the cover-up is as heinous as the original crime. Read the charge sheet in the Zuma case, then read the story headlined “Who, what, when & how much? that appeared in Noseweek in August 2003 – yes, 16 years ago! – and you will immediately realise that all the evidence backing those charges was known and available to state law enforcement agencies 18 years ago. And, neatly summed up, to Noseweek readers 16 years ago.

The fact that Zuma and others were not prosecuted then simply encouraged those with even bigger and more brazen frauds in mind, as we now all know.

The 2003 story from Noseweek, issue 48: In the late ’80s and early ’90s: The three brothers Shaik (Schabir, Mo and Chippy), Mac Maharaj and Jacob Zuma, along with the now-deceased Joe Modise, were key players in the ANC’s military and intelligence wing. (Zuma recruited the Shaik brothers to his intelligence network; Maharaj headed its most famous assignment, Operation Vula, aimed at mobilising funds and forces for the ANC’s participation in its first democratic general election.)