R2K Whistleblowers 2014: Kate Painting
“… it is time for South Africans to reflect and speak out. I feel I have a duty to expose the truth”
Last year attorney Kate Painting revealed that she had resigned from the Arms Commission in March 2013 in the belief that the Commission’s independence was compromised. This followed a similar resignation in January by senior legal figure Mogkale Norman Moabi.
Moabi, who was previously an acting High Court judge and former president of the Law Society Northern Provinces, accused commission chairperson Judge Willie Seriti and other commission officials of following a “second agenda” that was designed to prevent the Commission from fully investigating the matter before it. In August 2013 another senior Commission member, Judge Francis Legodi, also resigned, citing “personal reasons”.
These resignations were just a part of the controversy that has dogged the Commission since its inception. President Zuma instigated the Commission in December 2011 to investigate widespread allegations of corruption and impropriety in the R70 billion series of arms deals, which enriched a few major international arms companies, and from which he, along with a range of other political figures, are believed to have benefitted personally. (His announcement preempted a court judgement that would most likely have forced the establishment of such a Commission.)
The controversy surrounding the commission includes its decision not to call certain witnesses, complaints that evidence leaders have not asked tough questions of key witnesses, and that there may be attempts to withhold or cover up certain information that would be vital to ensuring the Commission is a meaningful public process.
Most significant, however, is the concern echoed by both Painting and Moabi that the Commission appears to be following a predetermined political agenda. Both have chosen to make their concerns public after internal processes were exhausted, providing crucial information to guide the public debate of whether or not the Seriti Commission has any hope – or intention – of uncovering the truth about the Arms Deal.
Keep Reading: ‘Arms Deal commission lawyer resigned over second agenda’
Kate Painting is featured in R2K’s 2014 Whistleblower Calendar. Find out more.
