South Africa’s main Parliamentary opposition party, the Democratic Alliance
(DA) says it will be using the Promotion of Action to Information Act and other
mechanisms to release to the public a number of reports it says are of national
importance.
It says the reports, including the 2001 Joint Investigating Team Report into the
Strategic Defence Package, were either not released to the public; or were
substantially rewritten or edited before being released; were not referred to
Parliament to be debated and considered; or were ignored in that the findings or
recommendations made in them have not been acted upon.
“We will therefore continue to use the mechanisms available to us such as the
motions calling for debates in Parliament, parliamentary questions as well as
our membership in parliamentary committees to ensure that these reports are no
longer ignored and sidelined by the [ruling African National Congress],” DA
parliamentary leader Athol Trollip said in a statement yesterday.
“Significantly, most of these reports are compiled at great cost to the
taxpayer, money that could have been used to deliver basic services. The DA will
be submitting a series of parliamentary questions to determine how much each
report cost and, given that they have been ignored, whether the relevant
minister deems that cost justifiable.”
Among the reports are:
Joint Investigating Team Report, November 2001
The report that was tabled in Parliament was
substantially edited by the Executive to remove critical pieces of
evidence outlining irregularities in the acquisition process in the arms
deal.