Killing us for their sport

Jacob Zuma has clutched at enough legal straws over the past two decades in his efforts to avoid being prosecuted for arms deal corruption, that he must have enough to build a haystack by now.

The latest windmill that Don Quixote De La Nkandla is tilting at is the National Prosecuting Authority and prosecutor Billy Downer, whom, he claims, are in league with the spooks of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to bring him down.

While that conspiracy mainly only exist in the head of our former president, it would be naïve to believe that the major powers have little or no interest in this mismanaged, corrupt country on the southern tip of Africa.

The arms deal itself is a case in point.

Not long after 1994, the SA Navy chose a Spanish design for a deep water patrol vessel to replace its ageing strike craft which were built in Israel and designed for the calm waters of the Mediterranean … and, suddenly, the story blew up in the media: How dare we spend R2 billion (yes it was that little) of our “peace dividend”?

The usual leftie suspects in the ANC howled in anguish.

The ship deal was scrapped, a new “white paper” on defence was written, there were a few cursory public debates (a la e-tolls) and, bingo!

The new arms deal costs soared towards R100 billion and included new ships, submarines, naval and air force helicopters, new jet fighter and trainers.

What happened? One of the losing bidders for the Navy contract was British shipyard Yarrows and it is highly likely the Brits blew the whistle to stop the Spanish contract.

In the end, the UK still didn’t get the ship contract – but did get a highly lucrative contract for British Aerospace to supply the SA Air Force with outdated Hawk trainer aircraft, not the first choice of the air force.

The Germans then leaned on then-president Thabo Mbeki, and they got deals for three submarines and three frigates for the Navy. Even more interesting – if one is considering the possibility that foreigners are paying close attention to what is happening in SA – is the Gupta Leaks.

These were the more than one terabyte of e-mails passed on to investigative journalists and which have formed the basis of the revelations of state capture.

Did a disgruntled employee copy the data and leave the employ of the Guptas? That much data would have taken a day to copy. How likely is it that someone, however angry, would have taken the risk? On the other hand, a sophisticated foreign intelligence agency, with vast electronic monitoring capabilities, could have been capturing all Gupta communications in real time over years.

Why would they? Possibly because they didn’t want other countries – like China in the locomotives and other deals and Russia in a plan to go nuclear – getting lucrative deals and influence. Possibly, too, they realised that an impoverished and looted SA is in nobody’s interest.

The big powers could be pulling strings in our society. They have the money and the clout. And we, babes in the word that we are when it comes to diplomacy, are awed by that.

Here’s a quote from Shakespeare’s King Lear, which I have never forgotten but which sums up what might really be happening behind the scenes: “As flies are to wanton boys are we to the Gods; they kill us for their sport.”

– brendans@citizen.co.za