Movers and Shaikers...

It's good to in a land where the news is so ridiculous, it makes you cry with laughter.

So there's this corruption trial, right, into the allegedly fraudulent and illegal activities of one Schabir Shaik, close confidant and financial advisor of Deputy President Jacob Zuma. All of which becomes more media-worthy given that Zuma (despite his disasterous turn as Minister of Health a few years back) is being loudly touted as Mbeki's most likely successor as President.

Anyway, the issue of the trial is an alleged bribe of R500 000 per year for Zuma from the French arms manufacturer Thomson CSF. The govt. says that Shaik solicited the bribe in exchange for protection during investigations into the irregularities surrounding an arms deal. Shaik maintains that he only asked for a donation to Zuma's education trust fund.

Here's where it gets fun:

In case the defence of "donations for the trust fund" argument didn't have enough credibility, the defense advocate, Francois Van Zyl, gave an alternative defence. He suggested that there was "a reasonable possibility" that Shaik defrauded Thomson.

WTF??? His defence advocate gives a back-up story???

This is like OJ saying, "I didn't do it. I was at the airport. But if you don't believe that, then I'll say that I was at my mom's house."

As Van Zyl put it, "The mere fact that an accused is untruthful in his evidence, does not necessarily mean that he has committed the offence charged. There may be other reasons why he decided not to tell the truth."

It's a beautiful country...