The Cape High Court has ordered that the battle by Economists Allied for Arms Reduction (Ecaar) to have the arms deal cancelled be resolved by the end of the year.

Ecaar applied to the court yesterday for an urgent interdict to stop the corvette SAS Amatola from entering South African waters until litigation to secure the cancellation of the arms deal had been resolved.

The corvette is to arrive in Simon's Town on November 4.

Ecaar head Terry Crawford-Browne claims the arrival of the SAS Amatola would prejudice his organisation's application to cancel the arms deal. He says the joint investigation team's report on the deal confirmed that the corvette contracting processes were riddled with malpractices.

He represented himself in court yesterday as his counsel, Paul Eia, was not available.

The government's legal team argued that the application for the interdict did not comply with the rules of court.

Deputy Judge President Jeanette Traverso agreed.

She ordered that the two sides arrange that the main litigation to have the deal cancelled be resolved before year-end.

She also made final an order that the government hand to Ecaar documents in which the International Offers Negotiating Team and Financial Working Group warned of foreign exchange and other risks in the arms deal.

Only 28 pages have been handed over since the initial order was granted in March.

With acknowledgements to Fatima Schroeder and the Cape Times.