Cape Town - Auditor General Shauket Fakie, Public Protector Selby Baqwa and National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka will appear in Parliament next month to be quizzed by MPs about their findings into the arms deal.

The three men briefed MPs last week when the 380-page report was formally tabled, but with no opportunity for questions some in the opposition claimed that government had stage-managed the exercise.

In a departure from its initial position, and to avoid accusations of bulldozing through the report, the ANC on Wednesday agreed at a meeting of Parliament's standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) that MPs should have the opportunity to question the three agencies.

The ANC has previously came under fire for using its majority to force through decisions, contrary to the spirit of consensus decision-making which was once the committee's hallmark.

The ANC's Vincent Smith said the ANC believed only the report's recommendations should be examined, as it wanted it wrapped up "as soon as is humanly possible".

However, Raenette Taljaard (DA) said to focus purely on the recommendations would not satisfy the committee's overseeing role."We should deal with the substance of the report as well as its findings and recommendations."

She was supported by the NNP, the UDM and the IFP.

Gerhard Koornhof (UDM) said he believed Scopa should "engage the whole report, chapter by chapter".

Noting that the ANC wanted Scopa as a committee to question the three agencies and not individual members, he said: "It is clear that relationships in the committee have deteriorated to such an extent that we will not be able to have a normal hearing."

Scopa chairman Gavin Woods (IFP) said given that the arms deal investigation had polarised the committee and hampered its work, as well as the "unfortunate amount of mistrust over the issue", members should prepare individually or as political parties.

"I think it's one of those instances where we need to listen to each other. It's not a majority call."

Smith said it was unfortunate that such a level of mistrust existed, but if that was how the other parties wished to go about it, "we will have to go that route".

He repeated that the ANC had total faith in the independence, integrity and capacity of the investigating agencies.

However, Woods said the Auditor General did not have a good track record when it came to investigations. This was the situation, for example, with the Auditor General's report on the Sarafina Aids musical debacle.

Woods was challenged by the ANC MP Bruce Kannemeyer who said the Constitution only allowed criticism of Chapter Nine institutions, like the AG, to be done through a motion in Parliament.

Woods replied that no-one was "casting aspersions on the Auditor General. I think we are casting aspersions on a particular provision of the Auditor General's Act, which predates the new Constitution and allows the executive a great degree of sway over the final product we have before us today."

The three agencies are expected to appear before Scopa on December 5.

The six other committees also dealing with the report would also be invited to attend.

Scopa would table an interim report by the December 6 deadline set by National Assembly Speaker Dr Frene Ginwala and hoped to report to Parliament in full by December 10.

With acknowledgement to Sapa and News24.