South African Press Association (Johannesburg)
22 November 2001
Cape Town — Opposition political parties reacted with surprise to news that former Defence Minister Joe Modise, who has been linked to alleged irregularities in the arms deal, has been awarded the Order of the Star of South Africa.
President Thabo Mbeki presented the medal during a ceremony at the ex-minister's home in Centurion, outside Pretoria on Thursday evening.
The medal is awarded for contributions to peace and security.
Democratic Alliance public accounts spokeswoman Raenette Taljaard told Sapa it was odd that Modise had received the honour when the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions was still investigating his conduct regarding the multi-billion rand arms deal.
"The award appears to be made in clear defiance of the fact that outstanding questions still remain around former minister Modise's conduct in the strategic defence procurement.
"There are no doubt reservations about this award in the light of the current climate... and public opinion around the arms deal," she said.
National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka, Auditor-General Shauket Fakie and Public Protector Selby Baqwa unveiled the report into allegations of irregularities in the arms deal in Parliament last week.
In the report they said Modise's involvement in a company that benefited from arms deal offsets was "extremely undesirable".
Ngcuka said, when the findings were released, that claims the former minister had bought shares in Conlog -- a company which benefited from the arms deal offsets -- with a bribe received from one of the successful bidders, were without substance.
But, he later told reporters that certain issues were still under investigation.
"Other aspects, we're still dealing with. The whole aspect of Conlog is still under investigation."
Modise, who is dying of cancer, was actively involved in the procurement process before his retirement on June 16, 1999.
United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa, a vocal critic of the arms deal, said Mbeki seemed determined to continue to undermine the intelligence of South Africans.
The "questionable" findings of the probe were still to be ratified by Parliament, which ordered the investigation in the first place.
He said it was an open secret that Mbeki and Modise and others had induced the government of former president Nelson Mandela, without Parliament's authority, to underwrite the deal.
"The medal is tainted with the blood of thousands of South Africans who have died of hunger and poverty as a result of the government's obsession with the stockpiling of arms, instead of medicine and food for the poor," Holomisa said.
Pan Africanist Congress MP Patricia de Lille, who was at the forefront of initial allegations of misconduct surrounding the deal, said she was more interested in how such awards were given out in future.
It should not be left only to the President to decide who received such awards.
"There must be some kind of consultation so that we reward South Africans as South Africans... there must be some kind of processes put in place."
"We must be careful not to award mediocrity."
Modise might have deserved some praise for his days with the African National Congress, but he was receiving this award on behalf of South Africa, she said.
Dr Gavin Woods, the chair of Parliament's public accounts committee (Scopa), which -- which called for the multi-agency probe a year ago -- declined to comment.
The award ceremony was witnessed by most members of the Cabinet, senior ANC figures and members of the Modise family.
The former minister did not attend the ceremony in his lounge. The medal was handed to his daughters Dipuso, 16, and Lesedi, 14.
The previous two post-apartheid recipients of the award were SA Communist Party leader Chris Hani and former cabinet minister Joe Slovo, who both received the high award posthumously in 1999.
Both, like Modise, had held senior positions within the ANC's former armed wing, uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK).
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