Parliament - Parliament's watchdog public accounts committee chairman Gavin Woods on Wednesday challenged the ANC to act against him if the party was unhappy with his actions as head of Scopa.

At a special meeting of Scopa, requested by the African National Congress, the party accused Woods (IFP) of speaking about the multi-billion rand arms deal on behalf of the committee without consulting its members.

The ANC's Vincent Smith said the party wanted to disassociate itself from the chairman's recent comments that Scopa appeared to be kept in the dark about the probe into the deal.

He warned Woods not to speak on behalf of the committee without consulting its members in future.

'Comments were my personal view'

Woods rejected the argument, saying the comments were his personal view.

"I think if you look at the English of it (the article), you will see that I expressed a personal view about the committee, which I think I am quite entitled to do."

He would defend his principles and would continue to express his personal views on the deal.

If the ANC did not agree with his actions, it should make a decision about his position as chairman of Scopa, Woods said.

Woods told Sapa on Sunday that Scopa - which originally called for a multi-agency probe into the deal - had been sidelined.

"The committee is still pretty much in the dark regarding the investigators' plans."

On whether the committee had been sidelined, he said: "We have been sidelined. We had interventions by the (National Assembly) Speaker, which by design created uncertainty about accountability arrangements".

He also said the Auditor-General, who is leading the probe, had requested Scopa members not to contact his staff about the arms deal.

These views were later repeated during an interview on Cape Talk.

'Clear that comments made on behalf of committee'

While Smith seemed to accept the explanation, some of the party's other members rejected Woods's answer, saying it was quite clear that the comments were made on behalf of the committee.

"I don't know by what stretch of the imagination you could say that it was your personal view," ANC MP Billy Nair said.

Woods and ANC members have been at odds before, particularly regarding the issue of whether the committee had wanted the Heath special investigating unit to be involved in the probe.

Democratic Alliance public accounts spokesperson Raenette Taljaard said the ANC should be careful about trying to restrict the freedom of speech of fellow members.

It was also her view that Scopa was, indeed, being kept in the dark about the probe.

Nair angrily reacted that the ANC was the last party to threaten freedom of speech, as it had fought for that right for decades.

"No-one should come and lecture us about freedom of speech, least of all Raenette."

It was clear to him that, despite the denials, Woods had spoken on behalf of the committee.

"If you are saying you are the committee, then I am afraid you are mistaken Dr Woods... we can go around in circles and talk about freedom of speech... it's all bullshit."

'Irrational comments'

Woods said he would not respond to Nair's "latest irrational comments".

In a meeting earlier this year, the two MPs were engaged in a heated exchange about Woods releasing his views on the arms deal to the media.

Nair had accused him of attempting to "bring down the government".

One or two of the ANC members seemed embarrassed by Wednesday's proceedings, and Andrew Feinstein, the party's former public accounts study group chair, stormed out of the meeting.

Feinstein was also replaced as one of the three ANC members compiling an interim report on the arms deal. 

With acknowledgment to Sapa and News24.