The controversy-fraught arms probe appears to have ended the non-partisan era of a watchdog parliamentary public accounts committee. 

African National Congress chief whip Tony Yengeni told The Sunday Independent that ANC members would in future operate on strict party lines. 

"Some people have the notion that public accounts committee members should act in a non-partisan way. But in our system, no ANC member has a free vote," Yengeni said this week. 

A question mark hangs over Woods's future 

The committee, whose report - adopted by the national assembly - called for Judge Willem Heath's special investigating unit to be included in the R43-billion arms probe. Its proposal has since been rejected by President Thabo Mbeki, prompting an ANC about-turn in parliament on the issue. 

In the past, the committee has been headed by an opposition MP and has conducted its work in a non-partisan way, resisting attempts to politicise its work. The practice in has been that each MP questions government officials in the same way, as if they are representing the views of the whole committee, not a single party. 

Now, Yengeni's office, whose job is to keep ANC members in line in the national assembly, will play a direct role in the committee's work, in direct liaison with the party's leadership. 

Yengeni cracked the whip in a dramatic week, during which Andrew Feinstein, the ANC leader in the committee, was axed and replaced by Yengeni's deputy, Geoff Doidge. 

A possible high-profile victim of the politicisation of the committee could be the chairman of the committee, Dr Gavin Woods an Inkatha Freedom Party MP who insisted the had committed itself to a non-partisan approach, even in the recent past. 

Woods quoted as an example the attempt by Bantu Holomisa, the United Democratic Movement (UDM) leader, last year to insert a "UDM view" on the arms probe. 

Woods said several ANC members then voiced indignation at the attempt by a party to influence the committee's thinking. 

"They asked me as chairperson to promote and reaffirm the understanding that we keep party positions out of our work." 

But now that Feinstein is gone and other ANC members who were more outspoken are coming into line, a question mark hangs over Woods's future as chairperson. 

He will be under scrutiny by the ANC on Wednesday when the committee debates what role it originally intended for the special investigating unit in the probe. 

Yengeni said Woods's position would be determined by the committee on Wednesday. 

"If they feel he has done wrong, they'll say that," Yengeni said. 

Yengeni explained the decision to replace Feinstein with Doidge as an attempt to create a political link between the ANC in the committee and the party's structures and its leadership. 

Yengeni will not be a member of the ANC's study group on public accounts, but he will meet the group when appropriate. "I'll be getting reports from the chair about developments in the study group, and where necessary, if the chair thinks I should explain something, I will." 

He did not see a conflict of interest in his involvement, either as a chief whip or as someone whose name had been mentioned in earlier reports about the arms deal. Yengeni said he had been very sensitive and cautious up to now, keeping a distance within the ANC from the arms probe. 

Richard Calland, a political analyst at the Institute for a Democratic South Africa (Idasa), said the public accounts committee differed from other committees in democratic parliaments because it dealt with the use of money after policy decisions had been taken. 

Partisanship would compromise its work, he said. Calland said this development would not only compromise the committee, but also the auditor-general. 

In another development, Woods and Yengeni confirmed that the South African National Defence Force had asked Woods to give back some of the documents he received as part of its investigation. The documents had not yet been returned by Saturday. 

With acknowledgement to John Matisonn and the Sunday Independent.