Watchdog committee chairman's statement not mandated'

CAPE TOWN Gavin Woods, the Inkatha Freedom Party chairman of Parliament's watchdog public accounts committee, came under fire from the African National Congress (ANC) yesterday when he was accused of unmandated statements about the R43bn arms deal investigation.

After more than three hours of hearings on the financial situation in the justice department and the Legal Aid Board, the ANC in the committee launched an attack on Woods. They accused him of telling the media that the committee was being kept in the dark by investigators when it was the committee that initiated the investigation in the first place.

ANC MP Vincent Smith said he gave the impression that his statement was based on a formal decision of the committee.

Woods has been under pressure in the committee since ANC MP Andrew Feinstein was sidelined as chief ANC spokesman in the committee and the ANC changed its position on the investigation and the inclusion of Judge Willem Heath's special investigating unit.

Yesterday he challenged the ANC to "do something about it" if they did not agree with him expressing his view "as I am fully entitled to". He told Smith and his ANC colleagues to read the media reports again. At no stage had he said the committee decided it was being kept in the dark. It was simply his observation of what was happening. "I will continue to express my views."

ANC MP Billy Nair said Woods was clearly speaking for the committee, and in a heated exchange accused him of talking "bullshit". This seemed to embarrass some of his colleagues, particularly Feinstein, who left the meeting.

Democratic Party MP Raenette Taljaard warned members to be careful about trying to limit each other's freedom of speech. She agreed that the committee was being kept in the dark.

The ANC was filibustering and wasting time. "The attempt to rebuke the chairperson of the committee for his interaction with the media is ominous both for what it signifies for the media and for what it might say about the future of the chairperson of the committee," she said.

Earlier, deputy Justice Minister Cheryl Gillwald said that progress was being made in turning around the troubled finances of the justice department. She said that by March next year the department would have a zerobased budget a first for any department in government.

With acknowledgment to Wyndham Hartley and Business Day.