Party officials have rushed to take control of parliamentary committees investigating the arms procurement scandal
Mungo Soggot
Andrew Feinstein, the African National Congress MP who has been sidelined after adopting an independent stance over the arms saga, said this week he will not resign and will instead continue to push for a thorough probe of the controversial R43-billion weapons contracts.
Feinstein, who formerly headed the ANC’s public accounts committee study group, was replaced at a meeting on Monday by the party’s deputy chief whip, Geoff Doidge, amid mounting tension within the ANC over the way in which the arms investigation has been conducted.
Feinstein said on Thursday it was critical a thorough investigation took place, and effectively challenged the ANC to ensure it was not seen to meddle with the probe. “It is essential that the investigators and MPs involved in the probe are free of any influence or pressure. The integrity of this process will be a touch-stone of our new democracy.”
The parliamentarian, who holds a postgraduate degree from Berkeley and an MPhil from Cambridge in public finance and economics, said he hoped to contribute to the work of the public accounts committee in the same way as before. He said that by staying on he was honouring the principles of the party he joined seven years ago. “Defending the ANC does not imply defending possible corruption by any individuals within the party.”
While the political debate over the arms probe rages on, the Office of the Auditor General is leading the actual investigation, which is understood to be focusing on significant flaws in the procurement process, as well as actual instances of alleged corruption by top officials. There has also been speculation by some involved in the investigation that some of the money that changed hands in the arms transactions found its way into way into one political party’s coffers.
Feinstein was the ANC’s most outspoken and vocal member on the committee, which provides a crucial check on the way government handles its finances. Since 1994 the committee has been chaired by an opposition MP, the latest incumbent being the Inkatha Freedom Party’s Gavin Woods. Feinstein, who was also the ANC’s official representative for public accounts, has openly endorsed Woods’s efforts to ensure a comprehensive and well- resourced probe into the arms package.
Feinstein said he was “saddened by the ANC’s lack of confidence in his leadership” of the study group, adding that he had considered resigning but that the issues at stake were “far bigger than my own position. They run to the heart of our democracy, specifically issues of good governance and the accountability of the executive to the legislature.” He said it was crucial a “comprehensive and thorough investigation take place [into the arms deal] that will determine the veracity of the myriad allegations made”.
Feinstein’s support for Woods has contrasted with the stance adopted by many of his colleagues in the ANC who have expressed doubt about the allegations of impropriety under investigation and opposed the Heath unit’s involvement in the probe.
The reshuffle of the ANC’s team on the public accounts committee took place in Cape Town at a meeting chaired by Tony Yengeni, the ANC’s chief whip, whose name has come up in connection with some of the allegations being probed by the Office of the Auditor General and the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions.
Sources at the meeting on Monday, which was attended by about 17 MPs, said Yengeni stressed the need for the party leadership to guide the work of the ANC’s study group. Yengeni is understood to have kicked off by suggesting that the ANC representatives on the public accounts committee effectively hold back from their work until Mbeki’s opening address to Parliament next week.
Yengeni is understood to have then indicated that he would attend all study group meetings to provide “political authority and guidance” to their deliberations. One source said Yengeni talked about the need for the party’s leadership to provide guidance and strength to the committee, and for the need for the ANC to “take charge” of the process.
Yengeni reportedly said there was a need for the ANC, from the president downwards, to exercise control over the committee. Thabang Makwetla, chair of the ANC caucus, was parachuted into the study group this week, as well as Andries Nel, the ANC MP who has presided over a rambling investigation into the public protector’s findings on Justice Minister Penuell Maduna’s clash with the auditor general in 1996. Feinstein declined to discuss details of what took place at Monday’s gathering.
The ANC’s intervention on Monday follows earlier reports of party heavyweights putting pressure on MPs like Feinstein who have backed the probe.
Feinstein’s long-term future with the ANC is uncertain. “Given the magnitude of these issues I do not want to make a rash decision about my longer-term role in the process. Instead, in the immediate future, I hope to be able to contribute to the furthering of these objectives by continuing to attend crucial meetings related to the investigation.”