Cape Town ­ The Democratic Alliance (DA) would do its utmost to prevent the parliamentary ad hoc committee on the Pikoli report from acting as a mere rubber stamp for the decision of the president, the party’s justice spokesman, Tertius Delport, said yesterday.

The ad hoc committee is being set up in terms of a constitutional requirement that a decision by the president to fire the national director of public prosecutions has to be confirmed or rejected by Parliament.

Delport hoped the African National Congress (ANC) would not see its role as simply endorsing the decision of President Kgalema Motlanthe to dismiss the former national director Vusi Pikoli.

He did so on the basis of a report of the inquiry headed by former National Assembly speaker Frene Ginwala, which found that while Pikoli was fit to hold office, he was not sufficiently sensitive to issues of national security.

“It will be a pity if the ANC does this. However, in the light of my experiences since 1994 I think that this is what their approach will be,” Delport said.

The multiparty committee with about 10-12 members will include representatives of both the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces. It will hold its first meeting on Monday at which it will elect a chairman and plot the way forward.

The ANC is expected to have about six members, the DA three (Delport, Len Joubert and Wattie Watson), the Inkatha Freedom Party about two and the smaller parties perhaps one or two.

ANC members on the justice committee include chairman Yunus Carrim as well as Luwellyn Landers, Bulelani Maqwanishe, Nomhle Mahlawe and Gassan Solomons.

Joubert said the DA would insist that Pikoli be called to testify while Delport said it was important that members approach the matter with an open mind, focusing on matters of fact and law.

The committee is required to have finalised its recommendation by the end of the first week of next month so that both houses can vote on it before Parliament rises in the middle of the month. Parliament’s decision would then be conveyed to the president.

Pikoli was suspended by former president Thabo Mbeki ostensibly because he was on the verge of executing search and arrest warrants against national police commissioner Jackie Selebi.

With acknowledgements to Linda Ensor and Business Day.