Arms deal critics believe all African leaders are corrupt - Mbeki
25 April 2016
Johannesburg - People do not want to believe that there was no corruption involved in the 1999 multi-billion rand arms deal because it feeds into the stereotype that African governments are corrupt, former president Thabo Mbeki said on Monday.
"These allegations without facts, but sustained over many years, are based on a stereotype and the stereotype is African governments are generally corrupt, therefore this African government is corrupt," he told reporters in Johannesburg.
"People shout for one-and-a-half decades, and even when they are given an opportunity to produce facts to substantiate the allegation they don’t have them. But they will not hesitate to repeat that there was corruption."
Mbeki, who testified at the Seriti Commission of Inquiry into the arms deal, was adamant that there was no proof of corruption and bribery.