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THE SMART NEWS SOURCE | Feb 10 2010 01:55 | LAST UPDATED Feb 10 2010 01:55 |
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It was one of my first big stories for the Mail & Guardian: the government was planning to buy a fleet of eight highly sophisticated A400M military transport planes from Airbus, for what at the time -- 2004 -- seemed a staggering R8-billion. Five years later Armscor puts the price at R47-billion, as much as the entire 1999 arms package. That figure is disputed, but one must assume that the original estimate was far too low and that the cancellation of the purchase by Cabinet on Thursday came as a cash-strapped treasury finally refused to proceed. Thabo Mbeki's administration had kept the deal quiet. Air force generals I spoke to had heard only rumours and the reluctant defence parastatal, Denel, was being strong-armed into signing an agreement to manufacture airframe components for the giant heavy-lifter. It was mid-December and Airbus demanded the deal be signed by Christmas. Nevertheless, an unlikely coalition between then public enterprises minister Alec Erwin and his adversary Jeff Radebe was pushing the programme hard over the objections of Denel's then chief executive, the late Victor Moche, and then defence minister Mosiuoa Lekota. No doubt that is why a senior state official met me in a roadside restaurant to hand over documents relating to the deal and why a massive spin-control effort was launched when I started asking Radebe's special adviser, the late Ian Philips, about it. Philips, who agreed with Erwin about almost nothing else, insisted, as Erwin did, that the deal would be the saviour of Denel, guaranteeing it lucrative design and manufacturing work on a major global aircraft programme. Denel countered that tooling up its aerostructures division to participate at the price offered by Airbus would push the company even deeper into the red, which is what happened. But Philips had another angle too -- one that was on its face harder to counter: the A400M would assist the military in reorienting its strategic priorities away from outward theatre defence, towards African peacekeeping. It would also bring an end to the practice of contracting extremely dubious Russian and Ukrainian air freight operators to fly troops and equipment to the Democratic Republic of Congo and other hotspots. The ageing Ilyushin 76 and Antonov 12 cargo planes that squat on the runway at OR Tambo were not only poorly maintained and dangerous, some of them were involved in ferrying weapons and contraband minerals too, and from the very rebel bands South African troops were helping to keep under control. The excitement in Philips's voice was undisguised as he told me how a Rooivalk attack helicopter would be able to fit into the belly of an A400M for transport to Bujumbura or Entebbe.  CONTINUES BELOW The fact is, however, that a major upgrade of the airforce's fleet of Hercules C-130s had just been completed and more could have been bought cheaply from the United States. Worse, there was no tender process for the A400M, neither was there any kind of defence review, setting out the shift in strategic priorities and justifying the expenditure before Parliament. On the contrary, a follow-up to the original defence review that justified the 1999 arms deal was just getting under way in Kader Asmal's parliamentary portfolio committee on defence. That public process would ultimately be cancelled and the review conducted in secret within the defence secretariat. Its results were due for presentation to Cabinet a year ago, but we have heard nothing substantial about the outcome. Erwin and Philips justified the lack of a tender process on the basis that this was no ordinary purchase. The participation of Denel, and the politically connected private company Aerosud, meant we were "partners" with Airbus, rather than buyers. At R8-billion, or R47-billion, that was bullshit of the most obvious kind. Airbus Military, in its reaction to the Cabinet announcement on Thursday, said it was "studying the possible financial and industrial impact" of the cancellation. That is probably supposed to be a disguised threat to pull the manufacturing contracts. If so, it is an implausible one. The entire programme has been repeatedly delayed, and it seems unlikely that Airbus, or its troubled parent, EADS, would sanction further delays just to take revenge on South Africa. Either way, while we celebrate the government's decision, we must remember the larger point: the government is proceeding with other large defence procurements, not least the landward defence programme, "Hoefyster", in the absence of any kind of robust parliamentary process. That must change. A reorientation of military priorities is more than welcome, but it would be nice if someone told us about it before we commit billions to another pig in a poke. TOPICS IN THIS ARTICLE
Comments
The baboons at Cape Point could make wiser decisions than this lot. I vote they be consulted on all significant matters.
Rod Studley on November 6, 2009, 2:08 pm
It's a good thing that Alec 'sabotaged with a bolt' Erwin is no longer in government. The guy was incompetent. Although, if every incompetent was filtered out of the ANC government, it wouldn't be left with much of a government at all!
JLG on November 6, 2009, 3:17 pm
What I dont understand is military expenditure at all. We are not exactly surrounded by aggressive superpowers. What are they gonna do, throw stones at us? Rather spend the money upgrading our police equipment.
chris on November 6, 2009, 3:55 pm
It's refreshing to see the word "bullshit" used in a major news source (m&g is major isn't it?), particularly in a story about the arms deal. It should officially become "the bullshit arms deal" in the interest of accuracy.
There can't be anyone outside of the most junior (and gullible) ANC structures who still thinks it was ever anything more than an opportunity to move some big government money around and take a slice as it went past... for the poor struggling comrades. Yes, I'm looking at you JZ! The worst part isn't that they stole (and continue to steal)our money, it's that they do it with such contempt for the stupid schmucks who vote that they couldn't even be bothered to do it imaginatively.
Occams Machete on November 6, 2009, 5:48 pm
Don't think the ANC has turned over a new leaf. They have torpedoed the deal for the same reason they tried to stop the Vodacom deal: Kickbacks were going to those no longer in favour
Sydney Kaye on November 6, 2009, 6:04 pm
Nic Dawes good work buddy for having played the midwifery role in this Arms-deal Scandal 2, you got the ball and ran with it and walah Azania has won. Animal Farm-1209 is impressed that there are still good guys like you who work very hard for this country.
Animal Farm-1209 would like to honor the Minister of Defense, Ms Lindiwe Sisulu with the Order of the Peacock for here beautiful and wise decision. It shows our defense is in good capable hands in Ms Sisulu and Animal Farm-1209 would like to wish her well in transforming the defense of our country.
Animal Farm-1209 on November 6, 2009, 6:47 pm
Its one of those thing I feel I have to compliment the ruling part on .
Also this SABC lisence that will come out of workers tax.As many people do not bother paying lisence and it will have to be certain individuals.
Phumelele Ndengezi on November 6, 2009, 7:30 pm
Lets not forget Erwin's utter incompetence in running Trade and Industry. The BS Arms Deal was supposed to be RECIPROCAL to save Denel. But he could not manage this. But we left him to run the entire economy. Will anyone buy a nuclear pebble bed reactor from this guy? Come on its clean and green and the station shell stays contaminated for 50 000 years... or more...
bashar teg on November 6, 2009, 9:24 pm
Unfortuanetly chris, military budget spending is a bit like pension contributions. You can't start 5 years before you need it and think it's going to be sufficient. Look what happened to Kuwait in 90, an unstable government took a cheap shot and look where they ended up. Any unstable governments around SA? The sad fact is we needed those planes probably more than we needed the subs. They would have contributed to strategic stability and that's good for everyone. But there just isn't enough ZAR to go around thanks mainly to the lovely forex rate, which is mainly the government's doing.
paul vincent on November 7, 2009, 7:38 am
Animal Farm: Im afraid to say, but Lindiwe Sisulu is not a competent politician. She has simply been reshuffled to a new division (The army), after wasting R2-3 billion rand on a failed housing project.
Sinudeity @gmail.com on November 8, 2009, 9:11 am
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