In what is becoming a key moment in defining South Africa's parliamentary democracy, embattled national assembly speaker Frene Ginwala has asked MPs - including those from outside the ANC - to judge whether she misused her position to favour the ANC in the arms deal probe.

"I'm putting parliament on the line. The speaker has to make decisions. Any speaker would behave that way," Ginwala told The Sunday Independent.  

Ginwala was reacting to claims in an open letter by Bantu Holomisa, the United Democratic Movement leader, circulated to the media and the diplomatic corps, that her handling of parliament over the arms deal investigation amounted to dereliction of duty and improper interference in the affairs of a parliamentary committee.

Tony Yengeni did not attend, but sent a deputy

Ginwala rejected accusations that she had misused her position as speaker to support the ANC position on the arms investigation, and proposed the multiparty committee at an informal lunch on Thursday to which she invited chief whips from all parties, including the ANC.

She first hinted at the proposed committee in a special statement to the national assembly on Tuesday after Holomisa's stinging attack.

At the meeting on Thursday, after an ANC caucus meeting that did not take up the issue, Ginwala suggested that a committee be set up consisting of one member of each party to avoid the partisanship of an ANC majority as it investigated Holomisa's statements.

Tony Yengeni, the ANC chief whip, did not attend, but sent a deputy.

On Saturday Tony Leon, the Democratic Alliance leader, criticised Ginwala for asking parliament to defend her against what she saw as an attack on "the integrity of the house and of parliament".

'Any MP is now free to refuse to co-operate with a committee'

"When the speaker steps off her throne and steps into the hurly-burly of contested politics, she cannot then invoke her speakership and the dignity of the chair of parliament to defend herself," Leon said during a speech in Kimberley.

Holomisa said he stood by everything he had said and would defend it, and called on Ginwala to withdraw from the process of deciding how to proceed because she was an interested party.

Opposition MPs said that after the damage to parliament's authority by recent party political quarrels in the public accounts committee and, more recently, in the ethics committee over Yengeni, parliament's ability to deal with its own discipline had been impaired.

Holomisa had also alleged improper interference in constitutional structures such as the national directorate of public prosecutions, the public protector and the office of the auditor-general - the three agencies probing the arms deal.

There were also allegations that Ginwala had rejected the report by the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa), and was biased in the way she conducted the business of the house, MPs were told.

"It is necessary that the house examines the allegations about the manner in which the speaker has carried out the responsibilities entrusted by the constitution and this house and determine what action it wishes to take," Ginwala told MPs on Tuesday.

She complained about the accusations of partisanship, and called on MPs to evaluate her rulings on their merits instead of accusing her on political motives.

She pointed out several rulings she had made against the executive, including her rejection of the executive demand that all the arms contracts be returned to the executive, and her letter to Deputy President Jacob Zuma declining some of his requests for information from parliament.

Yengeni refused to appear before the ethics committee earlier this month to explain his violations of its requirements that gifts and assets be disclosed. As chief whip of the majority party, Yengeni would normally propose such a committee in parliament.

Douglas Gibson, the DA chief whip, said the ANC had "destroyed the authority of parliament" when it failed to enforce the code of ethics in the face of a violation by Yengeni.

"Any MP is now free to refuse to co-operate with a committee by providing some grounds, like saying they might be sued, or they are waiting for the arms probe to end," he said.

Meanwhile, Holomisa is aggressively defending himself. "I didn't defame anybody," he said. "The speaker must not abuse her position. This is a two-pronged approach - she says I defamed her and at the same time she asks parliament to take action. She'll have to choose."

Holomisa alleged that Ginwala failed to act "until there was an outcry and pressure from the patriotic media of the country. At that point the speaker identified some fine points of legality as the reason for stalling the report."

Ginwala also reacted to charges that her continued membership of the ANC's national executive committee and the national working committee compromised her ability to represent the national assembly in a neutral way. She said she had not been present at meetings where ANC strategy on the alleged arms scandal was discussed. Those discussions had taken place in cabinet.

She said that if reports were true that the arms investigators were not available to members of Scopa, she would tell them that "the investigators are required to keep channels open to any MP".

She also said it was her "personal opinion" that opposition parties should be entitled to have their minority views reflected in the Scopa report to parliament. This contradicts the position taken by ANC members in Scopa and supports the efforts by MP Raenette Taljaard of the DA , for the opposition's right to have its views recorded.  

With acknowledgement to Sunday Independent, John Matisonn and Independent Online.