Spokesman William Baloyi says the commission should be in a position to commence with public hearings by early November

THE arms deal commission of inquiry on Thursday called for submissions from members of the public.

The call was gazetted on Wednesday, spokesman William Baloyi said.

He said witnesses' anonymity would be protected where necessary *1. Written submissions should be addressed to the chairman of the commission, at House A, Nzasm Court, Third Street, Salvokop, Pretoria 0002.

Initial investigations would be conducted in private, potential witnesses would be interviewed and documentary evidence obtained.

"By early November 2012, the commission should be in a position to commence with public hearings," he said.

It was still premature to estimate the duration of the hearings, he said.

President Jacob Zuma appointed Judge Willie Seriti as the commission’s chairman last year.

The government said in 1999 that it was spending R29,7bn on submarines, corvettes, helicopters, and training and fighter jets. A few months later, former Pan Africanist Congress chief whip Patricia de Lille said in Parliament that there had been corruption in the deal.

Later new evidence has emerged of huge payments of "commissions" to South Africans for facilitating bids to supply weapons to SA. BAE Systems and Ferrostaal admitted they had paid millions of rand to South Africans, notably to Fana Hlongwane, a former adviser to the late defence minister Joe Modise.

Businessman Terry Crawford-Browne, who had campaigned for years to force Mr Zuma to set up an independent inquiry, had approached the country’s highest court for assistance.

In papers filed at the Constitutional Court on Monday, Mr Zuma announced that he had decided to set up the commission of inquiry.

With acknowledgements to Tim Cohen, Sarah Wild and Business Day.