Corruption Watch (CW) and Right2Know Campaign (R2K) on Monday launched an application in the High Court of South Africa, Gauteng division, to review and set aside the findings of the Arms Procurement Commission, also known as the Seriti Commission.
“The Seriti Commission’s findings cannot be allowed to stand. This review seeks to ensure that a great crime against the people of South Africa will not be whitewashed,” R2K noted in a statement.
It further stated that challenging the arms deal cover-up was particularly relevant given the current struggles against State capture, in an environment in which investigations of irregular procurement and large-scale contracts are increasingly hampered and suppressed.
Those who are implicated continue to act with impunity and in most cases remain in their positions without consequences, stated R2K.
The Seriti Commission was tasked with investigating allegations of corruption in the 1999 arms deal, which cost the country billions of rands and was conducted through processes that lacked transparency.
However, after over four years, the commission’s final report claimed it had found no evidence of any corruption in the deal.
CW and R2K stated that the findings were the result of an "abject failure" on the part of the commission to undertake a proper investigation.