Publication: Cape Argus Issued: Date: 2005-11-07 Reporter: Angela Quintal

Letter May Contain Agendas of Mbeki, Zuma, says Woods

 

Publication 

Cape Argus

Date

2005-11-07

Reporter

Angela Quintal

Web Link

www.capeargus.co.za

 

A letter in 2001 to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts regarding the arms deal may have accommodated the agendas of both the president and the then deputy president.

This is according to the man the notorious letter was addressed to, former Scopa chairman Gavin Woods.

Woods later resigned as chairman of Scopa, citing unhappiness with the way the government interfered with the work of his committee on the arms deal.

Woods, now an MP for the National Democratic Convention, was reacting to weekend news reports that President Thabo Mbeki may be called as a defence witness in Zuma's corruption trial.

Independent Newspapers reported that the president had been informed that he and other high-profile cabinet ministers would be asked to testify about a letter Zuma sent Woods in January 2001.

At the time of the fall-out in parliament about the letter, speculation was rife that Minister in the Presidency Essop Pahad or the president's legal adviser, Mojanku Gumbi, had drafted the letter.

But it is understood that Zuma now claims that although he signed the letter, it was written by Mbeki, working with a group of cabinet ministers.

The letter to Woods was used in the corruption trial of Zuma's former financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, in support of the charge that Shaik had sought a bribe from French arms company Thales by offering Zuma's protection against the investigation into the multibillion arms deal.

In his judgment in the Shaik trial, Judge Hilary Squires said the letter was "hostile", crowing and additional proof Zuma had been carrying out the task for which he had allegedly been bribed by Shaik and French arms company Thales.

Woods said yesterday: "A close look at the letter reveals possibilities *1 of it having accommodated agendas of both the state president and former deputy president. So the finding of the court in this regard will be very important."

Asked to comment on the Mbeki being called as a witness, government spokesman Joel Netshitenzhe said yesterday it would be ill-advised to comment on court cases.


Although hostile and crowing, it is both well "crafted" (for its then intended purpose), as well as clearly containing more than one main theme.

See it at :
Letter from the Deputy President, Mr Jacob Zuma, to the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Dr Gavin Woods, 2001-01-19
or :
www.gov.za/projects/procurement/woods.htm
It's a bust.