Johannesburg - Pan Africanist Congress MP Patricia de Lille on Tuesday said she had handed over information requested by President Thabo Mbeki on the government's controversial R43 billion arms deal.

She told the Johannesburg Press Club that she had handed the information to the Investigating Directorate: Serious Economic Offences on Monday.

De Lille said the information excluded evidence from those people who had earlier given information but since withdrawn it.

Meanwhile, she said she had still not been furnished with all the information Mbeki had used to decide on the Heath special investigating unit's exclusion from the arms probe.

De Lille said that on Friday she had received 35 pages of about 55 she was supposed to be furnished with, and by Tuesday evening had not received the remainder of the pages.

Last week Thursday, De Lille gave Mbeki until Friday (February 2) to provide her with all the information. De Lille's lawyers had indicated if the president failed to do so, they would be forced to go to court to compel him to hand over the information.

Assessing Whether Mbeki Applied His Mind

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

If Mbeki is found not to have done so, De Lille will seek a judicial review of the decision.

De Lille said on Tuesday that she had hoped to announce whether a judicial review would be sought or not, but was not able to do so because she had not received all the information from Mbeki yet.

She said her lawyers would take the matter up with the president's office on Wednesday.

"We have sent four letters since Friday trying to find the missing pages," De Lille said.

"Where there is smoke there must be fire."

She said it was time that the matter moved away from "statements and counter-statements" to the actual investigation.

'Mbeki Won Round Six'

De Lille, who described the arms probe as a ten-round boxing match, told the Press Club that she had won the first five rounds, but Mbeki had won the sixth round when he announced on January 19 that Heath's unit would be excluded from the probe.

She said rounds seven, eight, nine and ten would be fought in the public, media and courts.

The "full story" would come out in these rounds as there could be no secrecy and cover-ups in the courts, De Lille said.

"I still have confidence in the judiciary."

On the government's projection that the arms deal would provide around 65 000 jobs, De Lille said that she was concerned because the arms industry was highly-skilled and this would not make an impact on South Africa's high number of unskilled workers.

She said the deal was not necessary as South Africa had more arms than the rest of the Southern African Development Community members put together.

De Lille said she was worried that the deal would end up being a competition between African countries to get more arms and this would create a "toys for boys" mindset.

"I believe we need an army to control and guard our coastline but we must look at all the priorities first before we buy toys.

"The need is not to buy more arms, but to address poverty," she said to a round of applause. 

With acknowledgement to Sapa and News24.