Cape Town — South African Nobel Peace laureates Desmond Tutu and F. W. de Klerk have called on President Kgalema Motlanthe to appoint a judicial commission of inquiry into the country’s controversial arms deals.

Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, and De Klerk, Nelson Mandela’s predecessor as president, told Motlanthe they were making their appeal as “concerned citizens... deeply troubled about the state of rule of law, accountability and constitutionality” in the country.

They asked the president to appoint an independent commission by December 10.

"The urgency of the matter is self-evident,” they added. “The country is moving towards a general election, and the voters are entitled, in the spirit of free and fair elections, to be informed about what has become a major scandal in the country's political discourse."

The Independent Online news service reported the president's spokesperson as saying that Motlanthe had not yet had time to look at the letter. “It would only be fair to comment once he has seen the letter and replied to former president De Klerk and Archbishop Tutu," said Thabo Masebe.

The multibillion-rand arms deal has poisoned South Africa’s politics for nearly a decade. Tutu and De Klerk noted that apart from “extensive media exposes,” three books had been written.

One former ruling party member of Parliament has served a prison sentence in a case arising from arms purchases, a financial adviser to African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma is serving a sentence, and prosecutors want to charge Zuma himself.

The Tutu-De Klerk letter refers to recent raids on the premises of an associate of a former defence minister and others seeking evidence of links with the British defence giant BAE Systems. The Mail & Guardian newspaper has reported that prosecutors were investigating racketeering, corruption, money laundering and fraud charges.