Zuma: Mbeki not on witness list

2005-11-06 23:23

Johannesburg - Former deputy president Jacob Zuma's lawyer Michael Hulley denied on Sunday that the defence has listed President Thabo Mbeki as a likely witness at Zuma's trial next year.

Hulley said the defence's list of witnesses to be called has not yet been finalised, SABC radio news reported.

"At this stage it's too early, as part of the strategy of the defence, to say which witness will and will not be called," Hulley told the public broadcaster.

He said the defence cannot rule out the possibility of calling any witness at this stage.

"Certainly we won't rule it out as a possibility that any witness can be called, but to say that is the strategy of the defence (to call Mbeki) at stage is simply untrue," he said.

The Sunday Independent said Mbeki was expected to be called as a witness in Zuma's corruption trial, which is set to start on July 31 in the Durban High Court.

It was understood that Mbeki and a number of cabinet ministers had been informed they were witnesses, the newspaper said.

Mbeki would be asked to testify about a letter sent in January 2001 by Zuma, as leader of government business, to Gavin Woods, the then head of parliament's public accounts committee (Scopa).

The newspaper said it was understood Zuma claimed that although he signed the letter, it was actually written by Mbeki, working in tandem with a cluster of ministers who were at the time tasked with "sorting out" the arms deal.

The letter informed Scopa that further investigations into the arms deal were unnecessary.

Mbeki's spokesperson, Murphy Morobe, has referred to the reports as mere speculation.

"As far as I can ascertain, we have not had an approach. The president is out of the country. Our legal adviser is out of the country.

"Until such time that there is a formal approach we can take it basically as speculation," Morobe said.

- SAPA