South Africa, Nigeria barter dead bodies for arms – Report
The South African Government may have
bartered the bodies of 84 South Africans, who died in a building
collapse in Lagos, for arms with Nigeria, a South African newspaper, Mail and Guardian, has reported.
The paper said it saw two letters
written by a Minister in the South African Presidency, Jeff Radebe, in
which he promised to assist Nigeria ensure that an arms sale worth $9.3m
(about R100-million), which had been blocked by South Africa, would
proceed.
The Mail & Guardian
reported that Radebe wrote to JP “Torie” Pretorius of the Directorate
for Priority Crime Investigations (the Hawks), and Dumisani Dladla, the
head of the national conventional arms control committee secretariat,
seeking to assist the Nigerian government to get the weapons.
Nigeria wanted the arms, including helicopters and ammunition, to fight against the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram.
In October, the Asset Forfeiture Unit
seized $5.7m that had been wired to Standard Bank in South Africa. Three
weeks before that, $9.3m in cash was confiscated after being brought
into the country via Lanseria
Airport, north of Johannesburg, in three
suitcases, by a delegation said to represent the Nigerian government.
In both instances, the money was apparently confiscated as the transactions it was to be used for were illegal.
In his letters, Radebe, the chairperson
of the arms control committee, said it had come to the committee’s
attention that the failed attempt on September 5 to pay an arms dealer
in South Africa “was, in fact, a legitimate requirement from the
government of Nigeria.”
“Although the required administrative
processes were not adhered to at the time, the government of South
Africa deems it a bona fide error,” Radebe said in his letters to Dladla
and Pretorius.
The minister’s key request to Dladla was
for him to “liaise” with Pretorius and to “obtain all relevant
information in order to assist the parties involved to apply for the
necessary authorisations in compliance with the National Conventional
Arms Control Amendment Act (no 73 of 2008).
“Upon receipt of the required permit
applications, the national conventional arms control committee will
favourably consider ex-post facto approval thereof,” Radebe wrote.
The committee is a cabinet body tasked
with regulating the sale of arms to legitimate governments and its
mandate includes ensuring South Africa does not sell weapons that are
used to violate human rights.
The M&G however noted that Radebe
found it difficult to sell his plan to other South African authorities
as other law enforcement agencies looking into the arms money are
pressing on with their investigations, and Radebe’s colleagues in the
Cabinet are said to be less than impressed.
The Hawks spokesperson, Captain Paul
Ramaloko, said that the investigation was continuing and that his
investigators knew nothing about Radebe’s request for charges to be
withdrawn.
But Ramaloko admitted that the Hawks
were part of the priority crime directorate, whose head, Pretorius, had
received the request from Radebe.
Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, who also serves on the committee, referred the M&G‘s questions to Radebe.
Another Cabinet minister and arms
committee member, said Radebe unilaterally wrote the letters to Dladla
and Pretorius without consulting fellow committee members and only
sought their blessing much later.
A government official said Radebe’s
colleagues were accusing him of single-handedly legitimising the
Nigerian arms procurement transaction.
But Radebe, through his spokesperson,
Vanessa du Toit, said he was surprised by claims that three committee
members had distanced themselves from the decision to help Nigeria to
legitimise the arms deal because “this matter was discussed and approved
at the October 30 2014 NCACC meeting.”
The letters Radebe wrote to Dladla and
Pretorius are dated October 6, three weeks before the date the minister
said the committee met and gave him the go-ahead.
The South African Government in a swift
reaction, described the report as rubbish, stressing that there was no
barter with Nigeria on the arms deal.
SA Government spokesperson, Phumla Williams, debunked the story on Friday, in a statement, saying the report held no water.
William said, “Government places it on
record that no form of bartering with Nigeria was conducted during the
repatriation process.
The Director of Communication Division,
Nigerian Foreign Affairs, Ahmedu Ogbole-Ode, could not be reached for
comments on Friday as he did not respond to calls to his phone.
Also our correspondents could not get
the Director in charge of Press at the Ministry of Defence, Mr. Sheikh
Maikai, to comment on the matter as the calls to his mobile telephone
line indicated that it was either switched off or in an area outside
network coverage.
But a source at an office strategic to
the operations of the Federal Government said that the claim that the
Federal Government had forfeited the $15m involved in the botched arms
deal with South Africa for the corpses of South Africans who died in the
Synagogue building collapse was untrue.
The source said that there was no link whatsoever between the synagogue tragedy and the funds involved in the arms deal.
Source: The Punch
