The Seriti commission’s finding that there was no evidence of government corruption in the 1999 arms deal amounted to a predictable but disappointing whitewash, opposition politicians said on Thursday after President Jacob Zuma made it public in a televised address.

Zuma said the commission found no support or corroboration for allegations of corruption in selecting the arms manufacturers contracted by the South African government, and encountered not a shred of evidence that any of the “senior politicians in the government of the day” were bribed.

“On whether any person or persons improperly influenced the award or conclusion of any of the contracts in the procurement process, the commission found that the evidence presented before it does not suggest that undue or improper influence played any role in the selection of the preferred bidders, which ultimately entered into contracts with the government,” Zuma said, four months after he received the document.

He said the commission, which was appointed four and a half years ago, considered the role of consultants hired by arms manufacturers and handed large sums of money. It stated that this created an impression that decision-makers may have been bribed but, again, no proof was found.

“On this point, the commission states that not a single iota of evidence was placed before it, showing that any of the money received by any of the consultants was paid to any officials involved in the Strategic Defence Procurement Package, let alone any of the members of the Inter-Ministerial Committee that oversaw the process, or any member of the Cabinet that took the final decisions, nor is there any circumstantial evidence pointing to this,” he stressed.

The commission accepted assurances that the money was meant as consultants’ fees and nothing else, he added. Individuals fingered on this score testified before the commission and refuted the allegations and none of them were discredited as witnesses.

It therefore found that none of the deals entered into by the state in the controversial weapons buying spree were tainted. Furthermore, the president said the commission had weighed critics’ claims that the arms acquired were not appropriate for South Africa’s needs or were under-utilised by the government and found that this was not the case. It also found that the suppliers had by and large delivered on industrial offset deals linked to the arms contracts.

“The commission states that the probabilities are that the number of jobs created or retained would be higher than eleven thousand nine hundred and sixteen.”

The commission was set up in October 2011 and headed by retired Supreme Court judge Willie Seriti. It heard testimony from 54 people, including former president Thabo Mbeki whose tenure was marred by opposition to the deal and allegations that senior members of his Cabinet pocketed bribes.

Zuma has for more than a decade been haunted by allegations and charges, dropped in 2009, implicating him in corruption linked to the arms deal. Though the National Prosecuting Authority withdrew 783 charges, the issue has been kept alive by the Democratic Alliance’s (DA's) long court battle to have the decision reviewed. Judgment in the matter was reserved last month.

The DA said the commission’s findings were “massively disappointing” and questioned why it chose to ignore evidence unearthed by European probes into companies involved in the deal.

David Maynier, who long served as the official opposition’s defence spokesman, singled out a report by international law firm Debevoise & Plimpton, following a compliance investigation into Ferrostaal, which was part of the German Submarine Consortium.

“The final report, prepared by Debevoise & Plimpton, revealed that Ferrostaal, itself, was concerned about ‘questionable and improper payments’ to its own consultants.

“The Arms Procurement Commission rejected the allegations in the final report of Debevoise & Plimpton… And so, despite the Arms Procurement Commission, sitting for four years, and consuming more than R113-million, the question still remains, whether any forward payments were made by these consultants, and if forward payments were made by these consultants, who received those forward payments,” he said.

Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille, who as a Pan Africanist Congress member of Parliament in 1999 called for Zuma, his advisor Schabir Shaik and African National Congress (ANC) veteran Tony Yengeni to be investigated, said the terms of the reference was designed with a view to exonerating the president.

“With due respect to Judge Willie Seriti, this outcome was decided long before the Commission started and Judge Seriti only had to design a process to get a predetermined outcome – to give President Jacob Zuma what he wanted. This is an utter and total waste of time and taxpayer’s money.”

She added: “I now put my faith in the independence of our judiciary where the North Gauteng High Court must still rule on whether President Zuma must be charged for more than 750 (sic) counts of corruption related to the arms deal.”

The African National Congress, on the other hand, commended the commission for conducting an “exhaustive” inquiry and welcomed the outcome, expressing hope that it would put the long-running controversy to rest.

“All presentations were fully considered by the Commission which ultimately dismissed all allegations of bribery, corruption and fraud in the procurement process. The ANC reaffirms its confidence in the credibility of the process and trust that the commission’s report will bring to finality the allegations and claims of wrongdoing in the arms deal.”