Cape Town — The government rolled out the heavy artillery yesterday in the form of three senior ministers to stonewall questions about allegedly dodgy arms deals in Parliament's defence committee.

The head of the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC), Justice Minister Jeff Radebe , was joined by State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele and Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa in briefing the committee on SA's arms deals, but they refused to answer questions of detail.

When Democratic Alliance (DA) MP David Maynier, who recently went public with reports that SA had approved weapons transactions with some of the world's most repressive states, tried to ask detailed questions about pending sales of sniper rifles to Syria and ammunition to Zimbabwe, Radebe told him that was not what he had been asked for.

Radebe said that the letter from African National Congress (ANC) committee chairman Mnyamezeli Booi had asked for an overview and for the tabling of the 2008 report. He said the committee would be brought up to speed on the pending deals in a later report. Radebe told reporters after the meeting that he had done what he was asked to do, and was not refusing to divulge information.

Maynier, however, had a different view, saying he believed the oversimplified agenda was designed to allow an escape route for the NCACC. The DA believed Radebe "deliberately covered up embarrassing details about dodgy arms deals" to some of the most repressive regimes in the world.

"The minister had a choice: to open up or to cover up. It is a great pity that he chose to cover up. The minister refused to respond to any of the questions about the dodgy arms deals on the grounds that he was not prepared," he said.

The DA has alleged SA sold Libya glide bombs that could deliver nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, and provided multiple grenade launchers to Libya, Syria and Venezuela.

"The public have a right to know how it was that we sold, attempted to sell or demonstrated and exhibited conventional arms in states such as Iran, Libya, Syria, North Korea and Zimbabwe, despite legislation aimed at ensuring that we do not trade in conventional arms with states engaged in repression, aggression and terrorism. The minister appears to be trying to hide this information from the public."

Radebe revealed that SA last year sold arms worth R5,8bn to countries including Iraq, Pakistan, Sudan and Saudi Arabia, but gave no breakdown of the categories of weapons they received.

The ANC went on the offensive with chief whip Mathole Motshekga saying legal opinion was that Maynier broke the law by going public with classified material, and he could face criminal prosecution.

"Parliament's legal opinion agrees with our interpretation of the act that not only was Maynier in possession of illegally obtained classified information, but he also had no authorisation to disclose such information to the public.

"The legal opinion also noted that while members of Parliament are protected against civil or criminal proceedings, arrest or imprisonment for anything revealed in the National Assembly or any of its committees, this is not applicable in Maynier's case as he disclosed the information during a media briefing. This renders him liable to criminal prosecution."

DA chief whip Ian Davidson said the ANC was simply trying to intimidate Maynier and stop him from exercising his oversight function in the committee. With Sapa