Pretoria - Patricia de Lille wants the arms deal inquiry to find out if South Africa massively overpaid for the acquisitions.
De Lille, who called for a judicial inquiry into the arms acquisition before the deal was even signed in 1999, appeared on Thursday before the Arms Procurement Commission hearings in Pretoria.
As the current Cape Town mayor, she is a member of the DA, but was a PAC MP in 1999.
She is the first of the prominent critics of the deal to give evidence, and made a strong call for the commission to investigate allegations around the price of the acquisitions and of corruption.
This included, she said, whether:
* “the Gripen, which sells for $32 million per plane was sold to South Africa for $65m”;
* the British Hawk, which “sells for $15m per plane was sold to South Africa for $32m”;
* SA paid R750m extra for each frigate;
* the three German submarines cost R6bn but Italian subs would have saved R2.8bn;
* and “Agusta helicopters have cost R55bn and the Bell helicopter would have cost R12m each”.
She also asked the commission to investigate:
* whether Tony Yengeni, Ntsiki Mashimbye and Max Sisulu, who were all senior ANC members at the time, were involved with BAE or Saab, which had sold SA the Hawk and Gripen fighter jets,
* whether there was a link between Germany’s re-entrance in the bidding process and a 1995 visit to Germany by then deputy president Thabo Mbeki,
* and whether “3 percent of the total package was set aside for commission payments”.
De Lille first called for the inquiry in Parliament in September 1999.
“The basis for my call was a document and annexures which were given to me by concerned members of the African National Congress (ANC). This document became known as the ‘De Lille Dossier’,” she told the commission.
“I must emphasise that the De Lille Dossier contains allegations, which I believe that the government should investigate. I have never claimed that the allegations prove the guilt of any of the persons mentioned in the dossier.
“But I should point out that two persons mentioned in the dossier (messrs Schabir Shaik and Tony Yengeni) were subsequently investigated, charged and convicted of serious transgressions relating to their involvement in the arms deal.
“A third person mentioned in the dossier, (President Jacob Zuma) was investigated and charges were drawn up setting out very serious allegations. Although the charges were withdrawn because of undue interference, the many serious allegations against Mr Zuma have never been refuted or even answered by him.
“This strengthens my belief that the allegations in the dossier should be investigated,” she said.
De Lille handed her dossier to the commission in July 2012.
At the time, she told the commission she would not reveal the source of the dossier as it had been given to her in confidence, but merely asked the commission to investigate.
De Lille said she also gave the commission the case number relating to a case in Germany which resulted in an admission of guilt and payment of a fine by the CEO of Daimler Aerospace in connection with the supply of discounted luxury vehicles to South Africans.
“On 21 March 2007, I laid criminal charges at the Caledon Square police station in Cape Town against 29 South Africans (other than Mr Yengeni) who were the beneficiaries of discounted vehicles. I want the commission to investigate if these charges were pursued by the NPA and, if not, why this was not done,” said De Lille.
“On or about 7 April 2009, I also laid charges against messrs Bulelani Ngcuka and Leonard McCarthy at the Caledon Square police station, because of their alleged undue influence on the timing of the prosecution of Mr Zuma and which influence led to the decision of the then National Director of Public Prosecution, Mr Mokotedi Mpshe, to withdraw the charges against Mr Zuma.
“Yet again, I want the commission to investigate if these charges were pursued by the NPA and, if not, why this was not done.”
Ngcuka is a former NDPP and McCarthy a former head of the Scorpions.
De Lille also told the commission that she and former ANC MP Andrew Feinstein, who resigned from the party over the arms deal, had participated in the SABC TV programme Interface, in a segment focusing on the arms deal. “I want the commission to investigate whether the material was seized by the government and the SABC was instructed not to air the show,” she said.
De Lille said she had questioned the cabinet’s original decision to acquire the goods, questioning the affordability of the deal and the promises of the offsets and job creation targets, particularly in the light of other socio-economic needs which required government funding.
“I maintain this view to the present day and want the commission to make a finding regarding the correctness of the moral argument,” she said.
The Star