I want to quickly take you back to 1999 when the scandal surrounding the Arms deal first broke with my submission to parliament of what is now being termed the De Lille Dossier. I will then present you with a short timeline to provide you with a context for the present day occurrences.

Don't worry I won't be like President Mbeki and show you a whole lot of diagrams to confuse you and hide the real issues.

Timeline

9 September 1999 - Motion calling for a judicial enquiry into the Arms deal brought by Patricia De Lille.

In this dossier, I confirmed the link between Schabir Shaik and Jacob Zuma. Four of the people named in that original dossier have since been investigated and evidence of wrongdoing on their part has come to light.

There is one person who was named in that original dossier who has still not been investigated. That person is our current President. In the dossier I showed how the German bid of Thyssen and Ferrostaal was not originally shortlisted in 1995. The re-entrance of this bid on to the shortlist followed a visit to Germany by Thabo Mbeki who was then Deputy President of the country. Suddenly the Spanish and British bids were ousted and the German one included. I'm still waiting for an explanation as to this curious chain of events.

 15 September 1999 - Terror Lekota's speech in parliament where he speaks of my unwillingness to cooperate.
He even went to the Archbishop probably seeking divine intervention to get me to hand over my information relating to the Arms Deal.

 End of November 1999 - 15 NGO's gave support for me to ask the Heath Unit to investigate.

 30th November 1999 - I handed my information over to the Heath Special Investigating  Unit

 21 September 2000 - Auditor General confirmed irregularities in the Arms Deal.

 October & November 2000 - SCOPA holds public hearings and calls for a three agency investigation

 It was at this time that the ANC MP Andrew Feinstein became the first casualty in the Arms Deal debacle when the ANC had him removed as the ANC chair of SCOPA.

 15 January 2001 - I was summoned to the offices of Frank Kahn and Mr Lubbe where they were conducting investigations to be compiled into a report for President Mbeki.

 19 January 2001 - President Mbeki made a statement on national television based on the Kahn and Lubbe report claiming that there was no prima facie evidence and therefore no proclamation will be issued to the Heath investigating Unit.

 20th January 2001 - It was at this time that I started receiving death threats and I went public with them.

 26 January 2001- Kahn and Lubbe send a report to Business Day claiming that Mbeki distorted the findings of their report.

 6 February 2001- Scorpions raid Heath's Office and seize all his information

 May 2001 - I was subpoenaed by the Scorpions to appear in front of them.

 November 2001 - Joint Investigating Report is submitted to parliament clearing government of any wrongdoing.

 I immediately dismissed the report as a whitewash and I questioned how they can draw a difference between the actions of government and its officials as they have tried to do.

This, Ladies and Gentlemen was the sorry saga of the Arms Deal and the back and forth dealings of the government as it tried to cover up its wrongdoings.

The one term that has become so instrumental in this issue is that of prima facie evidence.

The latin for Prima Facie is "at first view" and it means evidence that is sufficient to raise a presumption of fact or to establish the fact in question unless rebutted. A prima-facie case is a lawsuit that alleges facts adequate to prove the underlying conduct supporting the cause of action and thereby prevail.

In January 2001, President Mbeki claimed that there was no prima facie evidence to warrant an investigation by the Heath Investigating Unit.

Many legal minds at the time, however, stated that prima facie evidence is not necessary for an investigation to be conducted, only in the event that a charge is to be laid. I think that the events of the past two years concerning Mr Yengeni and Deputy President Zuma now shows that there was enough indication of wrongdoing to warrant an investigation.

Now that we finally have the elusive prima facie evidence though, the Scorpions are claiming that they still won't lay charges against Deputy President Zuma.

I find this completely unacceptable.

That is why I instructed my legal council to send a letter to Bulelani Ngcuka instructing him to confirm that the decision was taken not to prosecute Deputy President Zuma and the reasons why such a decision was taken. We gave him until the 1st September to come back to us but he has as yet still not responded.

According to the Promotion of Access to Administrative Justice he has 90 days to furnish his reasons, but we at least expect him to still confirm his decision with us now so that we don't assume things based on media reports.

My lawyer has therefore written another letter that we sent to Bulelani Ngcuka's office yesterday again requesting a confirmation of his decision.

Another question is why did Advocate Gerda Ferreria resign after producing the prima facie evidence. Could it be because of the decision by Bulelani Ngcuka not to prosecute Deputy President Jacob Zuma.

It is quite clear that the Arms Deal will not be going away anytime soon.

I personally feel vindicated by the recent unfolding of events as it proves that my allegations were all based on fact.

I'm still waiting, however, for the government to take strong action against those of it members that have been implicated in this whole sordid mess.

I personally had to endure a lot of abuse at the time and threats to mine and my family's safety.

I believe that it was all worth it though, as the truth is finally catching up with a government that seems intent on covering things up and protecting its own.
 
As for the Independent Democrats and what we stand for, it is basically the opposite of what we have seen of the government in this whole affair.

We believe that you have to get back to the basics of good political governance.

The Basics are:

Government Accountability
Transparency
Public Participation
Effective Government Delivery

Many people have bought into our vision and more people from all walks of life are joining us everyday.

We currently have around 23 000 members, which cuts across all traditional racial and sectoral divides

Represented in all 9 provinces with party offices.

All of the Provinces will be launching over the next three months.

As for funding, we are relying mainly on the goodwill of our members and other concerned citizens with the means to donate to our cause.