The Democratic Alliance has demanded an explanation from government for the refusal to cancel certain parts of the arms deal in the wake of reports that the cost of the deal is now projected at more than R66-billion.

Cape Talk said the opposition party was calling for the cancellation of the purchase of 12 more Hawks and 19 Grippens aircraft. Contracts surrounding the acquisition of these armaments could be cancelled without cancellation penalties, the DA was quoted as saying.

The DA's defence spokesperson Raenette Taljaard told Cape Talk that there is always the option to cancel sections of the deal unless there are added costs that the government was unwilling to disclose.

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota responded to questions from Taljaard some weeks ago saying there was no reason to cancel sections of the multi-billion rand deal as the rand had exceeded all expectations against the euro. Taljaard said Lekota's response now did not apply as it was made before the September 11 attacks on the US. The rand has since taken a pounding and lost a lot of ground to major international currencies.

Finance Minister Trevor Manuel told Cape Talk that there was no way the country could back out of the arms deal. He admitted that the projected cost of the arms deal has more than doubled from R30,3-billion to R66,7-billion. This includes interest charges over the next 21 years. 

With acknowledgment to John Makoni and iafrica.com.