By John Matisonn and Pamela Kimberg
President Thabo Mbeki has branded critics of the government-appointed investigation team's findings absolving the government of any wrongdoing in the arms deal as "racist".
Commenting on Friday in ANC Today, the ANC's online publication, Mbeki writes: "At the base of all this lies the racist conviction that Africans, who now govern our country, are naturally prone to corruption, venality and mismanagement."
On Saturday the United Democratic Movement (UDM) condemned "Mbeki's ridiculous and repetitive use of the race card. His latest use of the race card against anyone who does not want to swallow the half-baked arms report is yet another reminder that this man does not deserve to lead this country."
"The UDM is concerned about the systematic and meticulous way in which Mbeki is eroding the good race relations and nation-building achieved under president Mandela," said General Bantu Holomisa, the leader of the UDM.
" comments are an insult to every South African, irrespective of race."
On Thursday the Democratic Party (DP) walked out of the national assembly before the briefing on the arms deal after Douglas Gibson, the DP's chief whip, said it appeared to be "a glorified press conference".
Earlier the UDM had announced that it would not attend, saying the report, by Bulelani Ngcuka, the director of public prosecutions, Shauket Fakie, the auditor general, and Selby Baqwa, the public protector, was "a public relations exercise".
Patricia de Lille, the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) MP, said the report was a "whitewash and a sad cover-up".
In his letter, Mbeki said people who still had to account for the role they played in the apartheid system, including involvement with murder squads, had become the defenders of high morality in their accusations of government corruption in the multibillion-rand arms deal.
"Others, who discharged other functions in the counter-offensive of the apartheid system, emerged as the greatest democrats and representatives of the people that our country had ever seen," he writes.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that R2,6-billion worth of equipment was bought as part of the arms deal "outside Armscor's and the navy's normal tender provisions".
It is not clear who allowed this or whether that person had the authority to allow it.
This is one of many comments made in the report on the arms deal that was released this week.
The comment seems to confirm that the tender process was open to manipulation and that the government was involved in choosing sub-contractors as well as prime contractors.
Using the example of two contracts which were part of the corvette combat suite, the report says they "indicate how a procurement system can be manipulated".
Quotes for the System Management System (SMS) from African Defence Systems (ADS) showed the first quote was for R64,73 million.
Less than four weeks later a second quote was received for R37,62 million. A competitive tender reduced the price to R29,65 million.
Shabir Shaik, the brother of Chippy Shaik, the defence department's chief arms acquisitions officer, has an interest in ADS.
The report rejects claims by Chippy Shaik and Vice-Admiral RC Simpson-Anderson, the former chief of the navy, that Shaik recused himself from meetings that discussed bids in which his brother had an interest.
The report tabulates 11 meetings at which the combat suite involving ADS was discussed, and points out that Shaik declared his brother's interest at four of them.
In total, he "recused" himself from three out of the 11, but he stayed in the room for all three and in one of those he even took part in the discussion about the combat suite. In several of these he is known to have taken part in the discussion and was present when the decisions were ratified. Despite Simpson-Anderson's claim that Shaik recused himself, the report found that his recusal "was no recusal at all".
The report also rejects government claims that the choice of sub-contractors was a decision of the prime contractors and had nothing to do with the government.
It refers to a key meeting on August 19 1999, at which witnesses said the decision was taken to award the contract to Detexis, a company linked to ADS, instead of C2I2. At a meeting on this date, a decision was taken to determine whether the risk for the SMS system should be the state's or the primary contractor's.
"This special meeting, if it took place, was one of the most crucial meetings," the report says, but "various factors create doubt whether this meeting took place".