Cape Town - President Thabo Mbeki will provide Pan Africanist Congress MP Patricia de Lille with all the information he used to decide whether to exclude Judge Willem Heath from the R43 billion arms probe, his legal adviser said on Thursday.

Mojunku Gumbi told reporters in a live video link-up from Pretoria that the state attorney had replied to a letter from De Lille's lawyers.

"The information will be provided."

They had indicated, however, that it would take some time to collate all the information.

Gumbi said she did not understand why a second letter from De Lille's attorneys was necessary as the state attorney had replied to the original request sent by her lawyers last Friday.

'We Have Nothing to Hide'

Director-General in the presidency Frank Chikane said: "We have nothing to hide. We will make the information available as requested by Ms De Lille's lawyers".

Chikane said most of the information was on the government's website.

"Whatever we have we will make available."

On Thursday, De Lille's gave President Thabo Mbeki until Friday (February 2) to provide them with all the information. The lawyers also indicated if the president failed to do so, they would be forced to go to court to compel him to hand over the information.

The lawyers want the information to assess whether Mbeki applied his mind to the decision to exclude Heath from the probe.

If Mbeki is found not to have done so, De Lille will seek a judicial review of the decision, her lawyer Cecil Burgess said last week.

De Lille is relying on sections 32 and 33 of the Constitution which relates to access to information and just administrative actions.

Mbeki Wants Heath Information

Meanwhile, Mbeki himself wants information relating to the arms deal and has asked the Heath Unit to provide him with all the information it has in its possession.

However, in terms of the law the Heath Unit first needs permission from those who gave it the information, according to Heath Unit spokesperson Naomi Goodley.

Justice Minister Penuell Maduna has also indicated that if the information is not forthcoming, Judge Willem Heath is not above Section 205 of the Criminal Procedure Act, which has in the past been used against journalists to force them to disclose the sources of their information.

De Lille told Sapa on Thursday she was among those approached by the Heath Unit for permission to hand over certain documents it received through her office.

However, on advice from her lawyers she was told to advise Heath that the president should make the request to her personally in writing.

The president should also furnish reasons why he wanted the information, especially as Mbeki had already made his decision to exclude Heath from the probe.

De Lille said she had yet to receive a request from the president. 

With acknowledgement to Sapa and News24.