DA joins call for deal probe

2008-12-03 21:06

Johannesburg - The Democratic Alliance has echoed a call by Nobel peace prize laureates Desmond Tutu and FW de Klerk to President Kgalema Motlanthe to appoint an arms deal probe, saying it should be done quickly.

The party's parliamentary spokesperson Sandra Botha said on Wednesday: "On behalf of all parties concerned, and with due consideration for the coming elections, I have therefore urged the president to respond positively and expeditiously to the appeal by the Archbishop Emeritus and the former president."

Tutu and De Klerk wrote to Motlanthe asking for the commission of inquiry to be appointed by December 10.

Motlanthe's spokesperson Thabo Masebe said the letter of request was delivered in Cape Town on Tuesday and would be taken to Pretoria for Motlanthe to consider it.

"The president has not yet had time to look at it. It will finally get to Pretoria and to the president in the next day or so.

"It would only be fair to comment once he has seen the letter and replied to former president De Klerk and Archbishop Tutu," Masebe was quoted as saying in The Star newspaper.

The two had urged Motlanthe to draft the terms of reference of the commission to allow the "widest possible investigation into impropriety and corruption".

The pair also suggested an investigation into the possibility of cancelling the arms deal and recovering payments already made.

The campaign was supported by the Tutu, De Klerk and Helen Suzman foundations and other organisations.

- SAPA