Terry Crawford Brown censored South African arms deal letters
From Wikileaks
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The document presented holds three recently censored open letters written by Terry Crawford-Browne, a south-african journalist and writer, relating to the topic of arms dealing in South Africa.
- March 06, 2008, 12:15
- Finance Minister Trevor Manuel has won a restraining order against arms deal critic Terry Crawford-Browne.
- In an interim order, the Cape High Court has ordered Brown not to publish any statements alleging that Manuel is corrupt or that he was involved in criminal activity related to arms purchases.
- Crawford-Browne has also been ordered to remove any such comments from his web site. Judge Andre le Grange has found that Crawford-Browne has persistently made defamatory and false allegations about Manuel.
- He says Manuel is entitled to protection from the court, pending an application for a permanent order against Crawford-Brown. Manuel has welcomed the judgment.
- —SABCnews
The first letter relates to Jacob Zuma and President Thabo Mbeki and both their involvement in the arms dealing affair. It also holds statements on the British and german Thyssen Krupp engaging in bribery to keep arms contracts.
The second letter, from an earlier date, has more information on the claims made against Zuma and his relation to Mbeki, Alec Erwin (Minister of Public Enterprises of the Republic of South Africa) and Trevor Manuel (Minister of Finance) and also more background on the bribery scandal, which appears to be under international investigation and related to many prominent people, including Tony Blair from the UK.
The third letter, which in a similar version was also printed in Cape Argus, focuses on Manuel's activities as the Minister of Finance, and the sell-out of South Africa to Barclays Bank and Commerzbank.- Context
- South Africa
- Terry Crawford Browne
File size in bytes
1. Previous publication: Yes: on http://crawfordbrowne.book.co.za/ which today (6 Mar 08) was censored by court order. See: http://www.iol.co.za/
2. Importance:
- It's relevant to South Africa's corrupt multi-billion dollar arms deal.
3. Audience: South African activists and anti-weapons proliferation activists.
4. Verification: Terry Crawford-Browne, the author, contactable via his publisher at http://www.umuzi-randomhouse.co.za/
5. Why submitted to Wikileaks It was censored.
6. Urgency:
The censoring of an underdog arms deal critic, which happened today in South Africa, is redolent of the censorship that went on during apartheid.