No answers from Zuma yet

2003-08-03 22:01

Anesca Smith

Cape Town - By Sunday afternoon, the Scorpions still had no answers to the list of questions they sent to Deputy President Jacob Zuma on his involvement in the multi-million rand arms deal.

Zuma will apparently leave for Tanzania on Monday to assist in the peace process in Burundi.

His spokesperson, Lakela Kaunda, said Zuma would complete the answers as soon as possible, but she could not give an indication as to when the process would be finalised.

Zuma has to answer the Scorpions' questions on his involvement with the private company, Thompson CSF, which benefited from the arms deal.

After the 35 questions on the Scorpions' list were leaked to the media last week, Zuma broke his silence for the first time on the allegations that he demanded R500 000 as a bribe to protect the arms company, Thales, against prosecution.

He insisted that he was innocent and only maintained silence before so as not to interfere with the legal process.

Scorpions spokesperson, Sipho Ngwema, refused to comment on Sunday on weekend reports that the Scorpions sued an international company, Halliburton, to explain why it sponsored a trip to Disney Land for former transport minister, Mac Maharaj, and his family in 1996.

Maharaj will apparently react on Wednesday to findings of an audit concerning gifts and payments he and his wife received from Durban businessman Schabir Shaik.

Reports in a Sunday newspaper claimed that Shaik admitted over the weekend that he asked a subsidiary of Halliburton to arrange the hotel and travel arrangements for the Maharaj family for their stay in Orlando, Florida in 1996.

Shaik apparently said he was "forced to foot the bill for the holiday" after receiving an invoice from the subsidiary.

Maharaj was not available for comment.

- Die Burger