Cape Town - National Assembly Speaker Frene Ginwala has rapped Parliament's public accounts committee (Scopa) chairperson Gavin Woods over the knuckles for publicly criticising her actions on the multi-billion rand arms deal.

However, she came under fire herself on Monday from United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa, who has joined Woods and the Democratic Alliance in suggesting the committee has been sidelined in the probe into the controversial deal.

In a letter to Woods - dated May 11, but only made public on Monday - Ginwala has called for an apology from him for comments he made in the media last week.

Failing this, the letter says, the committee should table an official report on Woods's claim that she influenced moves to keep the committee in the dark on the investigation.

Woods last week told Sapa that Scopa - which initially recommended, in a report late last year, that there be a multi-agency probe into the deal - appeared to have been sidelined by the joint investigating team.

He also claimed Ginwala had "by design" been instrumental in sidelining the committee.

In her letter, Ginwala said it was unacceptable for a member of Parliament to attack a presiding officer in such a way.

'These are serious accusations'

"These are serious accusations to make, particularly against an elected presiding officer.

"It is quite unacceptable that a member should attack a presiding officer in the media on these serious grounds, and not raise them substantively within Parliament."

She said Scopa had marginalised itself through an apparent failure to act, by not submitting further reports on the arms deal to the National Assembly.

"I hope that an early report to the House will reveal that this is not correct, and that the committee has in fact been pursuing its inquiries."

The investigating agencies - the Public Protector, the Auditor-General and the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions - were not directly accountable to Parliament, or any of its committees, Ginwala said.

Woods (IFP) told Sapa that he had, by late Monday, not received a copy of the letter, and was therefore not in a position to respond fully.

He said it was clear, however, that he was in future going to have to be very careful when speaking about the arms probe.

'Pressures are intensifying'

"It does appear that pressures are intensifying, and that I can now expect them to intensify even further."

Democratic Alliance public accounts spokesperson Raenette Taljaard said she did not believe Woods had acted incorrectly.

Taljaard suggested that Ginwala had made "a restrictive interpretation of the constitutional accountability arrangements between the agencies and Parliament".

"One would have expected from Madame Speaker more caution and less guidance in such a politically-charged matter," she said.

Woods last week came under fire from African National Congress Scopa members, for - according to them - speaking on the deal on behalf of the committee without consulting its members.

They said the ANC did not believe the committee had been sidelined, and the chairperson had overstepped his authority in making the claim.

Woods responded that the remarks were his personal views, and challenged the ANC members to act if they were unhappy with his actions as head of the committee.

Holomisa criticises Speaker

In a separate letter, addressed to Ginwala and dated May 14, Holomisa criticised the Speaker's actions on the deal.

"Your public pronouncements both inside and outside Parliament leave much to be desired, and have cast more shadow on the credibility of the investigation.

"It can be inferred that you and the executive are monitoring and directing the investigation by these agencies, while Scopa is systematically sidelined."

He said Ginwala's conduct had come under scrutiny in the wake of revelations of allegations of improper conduct by some MPs regarding the arms deal.

The "abrupt and undemocratic" termination of debate in the National Assembly about claims that ANC Chief Whip Tony Yengeni had received a luxury vehicle as a kick-back from the deal was one case in point, particularly considering Yengeni was offered the opportunity to defend himself the following day.

"We are aware that there are serious public concerns inside and outside the ruling circles about your attitude in these matters."

Holomisa also said a sub-committee, chaired by President Thabo Mbeki, had ignored tender procedures in the allocation of contracts.

"This is highly-questionable conduct on the part of the executive," he said. 

With acknowledgment to Sapa and News24.