Former president Jacob Zuma is seeking, via a high court request, all documents in possession of the ANC in relation to the notorious arms deal.

According to the ANC, the relevant documents were destroyed in a flood.

All the information he now seeks could have been uncovered had he widened the scope and terms of reference of the Seriti commission that he himself set up in 2011. Why he chose not to widen the inquiry will remain a mystery.

Perhaps his legal team should peruse through the Patricia De Lille dossier, which mentions a plethora of those involved . Seismic revelations in the upcoming Zuma arms deal trial will cause gigantic political tremors as hidden revelations and records are laid bare as Zuma’s defence team tears open a can of worms.

Those who benefited must be shaking in their boots. Many of the players are still in the public eye. Three have died and others were fired or resigned.

One of the paradoxes of the arms trade, given the grip it has on politics and the public imagination, is how small it is, less than half a percent of world trade, but is large in other ways –the arms trade may account for as much as half of the total corruption.

Once it ceases to be a honeypot for the enrichment of the well connected, it would dwindle. Corruption and politics have enveloped the soul of SA in their vicious tentacles. Brace yourself for earth-shattering revelations.

Farouk Araie, Gauteng