07 May 2004
	Politics 2001 Arms and the man BY SVEN LÜNSCHE

The world mourns but SA remains fairly immune to the global repercussions of the Al-Qaeda attack on Washington and New York on September 11. Though President Thabo Mbeki rules out military involvement in the US-led war on terrorism, he commits SA's security agencies to co-operate in the investigation into the attacks. Its neutrality ensures that SA gradually acquires safe haven status and, backed by a record weak rand, gets a strong influx of visitors over the next two or three years, defying the international decline in tourism numbers . Public investigations begin into the many allegations of corruption surrounding the arms procurement deal concluded a few years earlier. (It is worth R30bn-R60bn, depending on the rand's value.) One of the first victims of the investigation is ANC chief whip Tony Yengeni, who resigns his post after evidence of a significant discount he received on a Mercedes-Benz 4x4 in return for his support for one of the arms suppliers. But the Yengeni episode appears to be only the tip of the iceberg and over the next three years the investigations reach as high as the office of the deputy president, Jacob Zuma. The economic sense of the arms programme is also in doubt as the offset programmes yield few of the benefits promised by the winning bidders. Other events in the year: The NNP suspends its participation in the Western Cape coalition with the DA and instead aligns itself with the ANC. After corruption allegations, DA leader Tony Leon dismisses Cape Town mayor Peter Marais, but the latter makes a strong political comeback and by year-end is premier of the Western Cape. In an obvious and embarrassing show of paranoia by the ANC, safety & security minister Steve Tshwete investigates leading black businessmen Cyril Ramaphosa, Tokyo Sexwale and Mathews Phosa in connection with an alleged CIA-backed conspiracy against the president. It is later dismissed outright.