Andrew Feinstein, the outspoken African National Congress (ANC) MP who resigned from Parliament this week, says he fears that Parliament is becoming sidelined and that elements within the ANC are becoming increasingly intolerant of independent minds.

Feinstein says he also fears the government has used its clout to dampen the investigation into the R50_billion arms deal and that the probe could throw up weak and toothless findings.  

Feinstein started crossing swords with his party last year over the arms deal, after making it clear he wanted the standing committee on public accounts to conduct a full and impartial investigation. In January the ANC removed him as its leader on the committee, and has sidelined him since. Until then, Feinstein provided strong support to the committee's chair, the Inkatha Freedom Party's Gavin Woods.  

Feinstein says the ANC contingent in the public accounts committee has this year tried to neutralise the committee as an effective watchdog by politicising its work, and by seeking to shield the party from objective investigation. He says the Democratic Alliance has also contributed to the politicisation of what was once a relatively neutral body.  

"Gavin and I and many others have worked incredibly hard at making the committee an effective, skilled non_partisan institution," Feinstein says. "That is now being destroyed."  

Since 1994, the committee has become the most important watchdog in Parliament, providing a crucial check on government finances. It has always been chaired by an opposition parliamentarian. 

Over the past few months, Woods has also come under fire from ANC members on the committee. Sources close to the committee say the jury is out over whether the ruling party wants to oust Woods as chair and replace him with an ANC MP, or merely continue making his tenure as difficult as possible.  

Feinstein says that where the arms deal investigation has been concerned, the ANC has determined "what gets handled by the committee and what doesn't. There are a whole lot of things the ANC has not allowed. For example we [on the committee] have not been allowed contact with the investigators." Feinstein says the ANC has also blocked attempts by Woods to obtain further information from the army and from the government about the arms package that he required. Feinstein says the public phase of the arms investigation _ being run by Public Protector Selby Baqwa in Pretoria _ has "contributed nothing. If anything it has hindered the investigation."  

The public hearings attracted criticism when they were first mooted in April. Investigators privately said the hearings could frustrate and undermine their forensic probe.  

Some observers have expressed fears that the public hearings constitute a deliberate attempt to undermine the wider investigation, which has been carried out by the National Prosecution Authority, the Office of the Auditor General and the Public Protector. Feinstein says: "I hope the final report will be comprehensive and will not be full of too many qualifications."  

Feinstein says the fight over the arms deal investigation has contributed to the marginalisation of Parliament. "The arms deal was a very important test. It was the first major issue that could cause significant harm to government."  

He says he fears that in Parliament there has been an erosion of the "culture of debate and discussion that has always characterised the ANC". Feinstein says when issues such as the controversy surrounding HIV/Aids have arisen, party members have privately expressed their opposition to President Thabo Mbeki's discredited opinions on the disease but have not dared to voice their thoughts in caucus.  

He maintains there has been a similar pattern with the arms deal. "Many people [in the ANC] have privately come up to me and been supportive. Then when it comes to caucus, very few are prepared to speak out." 

Feinstein says it has "become increasingly difficult, if not impossible, for independent-minded MPs to work for the ANC in Parliament."  

"By resigning," Feinstein says, "I am acknowledging my deep concern about our accountability mechanisms _ Parliament specifically, but not exclusively."  

Feinstein was axed as ANC study group chair on the public accounts committee by the party's chief whip, Tony Yengeni, who has subsequently been probed in connection with a Mercedes_Benz that was initially bankrolled by European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co.  

He declined to say whether he thought it was inappropriate that Yengeni had not been disciplined by the party. Feinstein has also clashed with the speaker, Frene Ginwala, abstaining from the ANC's motion of confidence in her.  

He says Ginwala has at times not always backed the committee, but has instead tended to side with the party during the arms deal controversy.  

The public accounts committee has this year increasingly battled to get to grips with its investigations. The Sunday Independent reported last week how ANC members on the committee stopped a discussion on the education budget by haggling for hours over whether the debate should take place. The newspaper also reported that Auditor General Shauket Fakie wrote to Woods reiterating Woods' concern about the "dysfunctional" operation of the committee.  

Feinstein stresses that while he has serious concerns about the conduct of elements of the party's leadership, he still believes in the organisation as a whole. "In leaving I would like to thank my colleagues in the ANC who, with a few exceptions, have provided comradeship and friendship." 

Feinstein wants to remain a member of the ANC. "As such I will continue to be loyal to the principles of the organisation but will not hesitate to criticise when appropriate," he says.  

With acknowledgment to Mungo Soggot and the Mail & Guardian.