By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Former president Jacob Zuma, through his legal representatives, has written to the ANC, requesting that he be furnished with the party’s financial statements.
Zuma and his lawyers claim the statements will show that he didn’t benefit from the infamous arms deal.
A letter dated 20 July 2021 is purportedly written by Thusini Attorneys to ANC treasurer-general Paul Mashatile.
In the letter, the law firm stated that sworn affidavits from the Seriti Commission of Inquiry, investigations conducted by the German prosecuting authority and the ANC’s own financial statements point to the true beneficiaries of the arms deal as being the governing party.
According to the letter, seen by Fullview, when the arms deal trial gets under way, Zuma will be required “to give the court clear evidence demonstrating that he never used his many positions both in the party and in government to personally or corruptly benefit from any financial transactions” linked to the arms deal.
His legal team also argued that Zuma will be required to demonstrate that it was not possible for him as an individual or in his capacity as a member of the party or government to have provided any protection to individuals or entities from an investigation that would result from the arms deal.
Instead, his legal representatives claimed that “during the course of the investigation, our client became aware of an affidavit or evidence under oath submitted at the Seriti commission” of an investigative “unit linked to the NPA (National Prosecuting Authority)” which implicating “both the ex-ANC president Nelson Mandela, ex-ANC president Thabo Mbeki and the ANC itself”.
The letter also stated that investigations allegedly conducted by the German prosecuting authority also “reveal that the ANC received a significant financial donation from the German Corvette Ship Builders just after the awarding of the four corvette ship contracts by the SA government to the German corvette consortium”.
Zuma’s legal representatives were quick to add that their client “is acutely aware that the disclosure of these facts and the request for information related to these disclosures will be used as political propaganda against the ANC”.
They said he was “deeply concerned that his request for this information will arm those opposed to the ANC’s strategic position as the leader of our liberation and revolution”, who might use such information to “undermine the ANC’s moral authority to speak and act on corruption”, given that it’s being implicated.
“But he believes that it is fraud and money laundering that the true financial beneficiaries of the transactions in the strategic defence package did not involve him” yet he is implicated, read the letter addressed to Mashatile.
Thusini Attorneys also maintained that the former president “must extricate himself from the narrative entrenched both in the ANC and outside that he was involved in the corruption that involved the procurement of arms in the so-called arms deal”.
For the sole purpose of clearing his name, claimed his lawyers, Zuma therefore requested, among other information, “the list of all and any foreign payments received from any German-based defence industry companies associated with the strategic defence packages during the 1997-1998 and 1999-2000 financial years”.
He also requested details of “any foreign payments received from any French-based defence industry companies associated with the strategic defence packages during the 1997-1998 and the 1999-2000 financial years”.
The party has responded through its legal representatives, informing Thusini Attorneys “that after a thorough search, the ANC could not locate the documents being requested”.