John Matisonn

“They used their own prior knowledge of the facilities, and followed UN data leads. On their return, they reported that there were no WMDs in Iraq. By contrast, they described sites they had seen in Israel on other trips, where they were able to identify Israeli WMD sites. They knew where the sites in Iraq had been, and what they needed to look like. But there were now none in Iraq. In January 2003 Mbeki sent a team to Washington ahead of a meeting between Bush and Blair to explain the findings to the Bush Administration and appeal for peace. South Africa’s delegation in Washington did not make headway.”
― John Matisonn, God, Spies and Lies: Finding South Africa’s future through its past

“The report of the judges went to Mbeki, who said he would not make it available to the public. The Mail & Guardian fought a lengthy legal battle for its release, leading to final release on a court order 12 years later, in November 2012. As expected, it was highly critical, citing a litany of legal gymnastics, failure to comply with court orders, sudden changes in the law and unavailability of voters’ rolls. Large numbers of voters had been disenfranchised by new residential qualifications, and more by a new dual passport prohibition. Postal votes were restricted to the army and diplomats. Mugabe had access to state resources like the presidential helicopter, security and state-owned media. There was official failure to comply with a court order to publish nomination of candidates, 79 MDC rallies were disrupted or cancelled by the police, militias forced MDC supporters to flee their homes, and 107 deaths, most of whom were MDC supporters. The report cited Tsvangirai’s arrest and treason charge. Other members of the MDC executive were also arrested. Mbeki did not accept the judges’ assessment.”
― John Matisonn, God, Spies and Lies: Finding South Africa’s future through its past