Whistleblower Pan African Congress MP Patricia de Lille has labelled the proposed public hearings into allegations of corruption surrounding the government's multi-billion-rand arms deal a "big farce". 

De Lille also warned the hearings could endanger the lives of witnesses. 

The MP said she had had sinister death threats since exposing the allegations of corruption surrounding the deal in parliament. 

"I am extremely unhappy about the public hearings. Who is going to provide protection for witnesses? 

'I am extremely unhappy about the public hearings' 

"Another concern is that parliament does not have the legal powers to call for the relevant documents and records. The public is being misled and I believe these public hearings will be similar to the Hansie Cronje hearings and will not result in prosecutions. 

"I think the proposed public hearings are a big farce and designed to improve the public image of officials," she said.

Andrew Feinstein, former head of the ANC on parliament's public accounts committee who was removed from his position after he made public comments which were seen to criticise the ANC's position on the investigation, said he shared De Lille's concerns about the proposed public hearings. 

"The notion that any part of the investigation into the arms deal will be made public is a rather strange one." 

At a press conference this week called by representatives of the three agencies probing the arms deal allegations, National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka said media coverage was hampering the investigation and investigators were having difficulty getting witnesses to come forward. 

'We don't want to create a flawed exercise' 

But Feinstein said he believed it was the notion of public hearings that was scaring off potential witnesses. 

Gavin Woods, the public accounts committee chairperson, said he was still taking advice on the way an investigation should be properly conducted. 

Woods said he had also found that some potential witnesses had been scared off by the proposed public hearings and the fact they had not been approached by the investigators had also led to concern. 

"At the press conference it was indicated that the investigation might be over by July, which is quite frightening, as you never know what you are going to find under the next stone. The complexities of the investigation would surely ask for more than that," he said. 

Douglas Gibson, chief whip of the Democratic Alliance, said it was imperative that there was not a cover-up of allegations surrounding the arms deal under the cloak of public hearings. 

"We don't want to create a flawed exercise which will cover up the truth. A forensic investigation must be concluded and we need reassurance that a forensic investigation will continue. I don't want the public to have the impression that the DA is opposed to public hearings, but they must be as a consequence of proper forensic investigations and not as an alternative to a forensic investigation," he said. 

With acknowledgment to Glynnis Underhill and Independent Online.