This Day in History: 30 November 2004
At the time, leader of the Independent Democrats, Patricia de Lille, finally took the stand at the Durban High Court to testify in the fraud and corruption charges against Durban businessman, Schabir Shaik, four years after she sounded alarm on the possible irregularities in South Africa's multi-billion rand arms acquisition process. Her testimony relates to count three of corruption against Shaik in which the state alleges he solicited a R500 000 per annum bribe for Jacob Zuma (who was serving as deputy president at the time) from the French arms company Thomson-CSF, in exchange for protection during investigations into arms deal irregularities.