The DA is willing to go to court over a ruling by parliament Speaker Baleka Mbete that has again prevented it from asking President Thabo Mbeki questions related to the arms deal.

Party leader Tony Leon and Eddie Trent, MP and DA spokesman on public accounts, said in a statement yesterday that the DA had instructed its attorneys to brief senior counsel about seeking a "possible review" of Mbete's decision.

In June, Trent tried to introduce a member's statement referring to two encrypted faxes, one of which was allegedly from Thomson-CSF executives claiming that Mbeki had given the arms company an "assurance" it would be awarded the contract for the corvettes' combat suite.

Trent said the fax had been written by Pierre Moynot to M Denis and B de Bollardiere. All three were employees of Thomson-CSF.

The second fax was from De Bollardiere, senior vice-president of Thomson-CSF, to the then-South African ambassador to France, Barbara Masekela. De Bollardiere allegedly thanked the ambassador for arranging a meeting between then-deputy president Mbeki and Thomson executives Jean-Paul Perrier, Michel Denis and De Bollardiere. Mbeki chaired the ministerial oversight committee in charge of arms procurement.

"The speaker has disallowed the question on the grounds that the subject matter is not of national or international importance and that in her opinion it contains innuendoes and implications of improper conduct on the part of the president," Trent said in the statement.

"The purpose of parliament is to hold the president and executive to account. If a straight question to the president ... is prohibited, it means parliament has been shut down."

National DA spokeswoman Helen Zille said senior counsel had been briefed to find out whether there was a case in law. Trent said the DA regarded the ruling as a "misdirection and a misunderstanding of the role of the speaker and constitution". It was an abuse of power.

It was the third time the speaker or the president had "shut down" attempts to find out if Mbeki had met Thomson-CSF executives in December 1998, days after the cabinet had announced its preferred bidders, Trent said.

He was expelled from the House when he refused to withdraw the member's statement. A letter asking Mbeki to explain the faxes went unanswered.

The third attempt was an oral question the DA intended asking Mbeki. Mbete ruled last week that it did not comply with the "criteria of international or national importance".

Also, parliamentary practice barred questions that made "innuendoes or imputed irregular conduct".

With acknowledgements to Sheena Adams and the Cape Times.