Iraq Oil Report: The South Africa President Jacob Zuma Faces First Real Test - DA

PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma could face his first real test in responding to the findings of the Donen commission into the role of several South African companies in the United Nations (UN) oil-for-food scandal, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said yesterday.

The party's public enterprises spokesman Ian Davidson said: "Indeed, this will determine whether he is prepared to underpin his commitment to fighting corruption with the requisite action."

The Donen commission was set up by former president Thabo Mbeki to probe the involvement of South African companies and individuals in violating UN sanctions on Iraq. But Mbeki did not release the report after it was handed to him in late 2006, nor did Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe during his stint as president .

The DA said it believed Zuma would need to make the full report available to the public. "The president knows better than anyone the problems with having unanswered allegations hanging over a public official's head, least of all a member of the executive," the party said.

Political analyst Steven Friedman concurred, saying the report ought to be made available for public scrutiny.

"Clearly, if there is such a document it should be made available to the public. If not, this could suggest that certain people are being protected and the public has a right to know about it. People in high places need to be accountable."

Presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya said he could not comment on the matter at this stage.

The DA was responding to media reports that Motlanthe, Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale and Department of Minerals and Energy director-general Sandile Nogxina had been named in connection with alleged wrongdoing.

The reports allege that Motlanthe had been named by the commission, headed by advocate Michael Donen SC, as being "privy to material information" relating to businessman Sandile Majali's oil deals with former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

Majali, known to be an African National Congress funder and also implicated in the Oilgate scandal in 2004, is said to have entered into deals with Iraq through his company Imvume, in the process contravening UN sanctions.

Meanwhile, according to the Sunday Times, Sexwale had told the commission he had not known that Mocoh, a foreign entity in which he was co-director, had "incurred obligations to pay surcharges" while it negotiated oil contracts in Iraq.

Mocoh and Imvume apparently paid "surcharges" for oil allocations to the State Oil Marketing Organisation of Iraq. Revenue from Iraqi oil sales was supposed to go into a special UN- supervised account to be used only for humanitarian purposes. However, the Iraqi government levied surcharges of about 10% on all sales and demanded these be paid into Iraqi state accounts.

Sexwale's spokesman, Chris Vick, said: "The transactions were always strictly above board and clearly in line with the parameters of the UN resolutions relating to the oil-for-food programme. This was conveyed to the commission in no uncertain terms."

Nogxina led a departmental delegation to Iraq in 2001, and was allegedly slammed in the report "for failing to act with an overriding appreciation that state departments were bound by international law to prevent the payment of surcharges by South African companies".