Public hearings into the controversial 43 billion rand ($5.5 billion) arms deal, the biggest single item of public expenditure since the African National Congress came to power in 1994, were postponed yesterday soon after they started, reports Patrick Laurence, in Johannesburg.
Public protector Mr Selby Baqwa, the presiding officer, deferred the hearings until June 11th at the request of the Department of Defence, after receiving an application to allow radio and television to record the proceedings. He undertook to give his ruling on the application when the hearings restart.
But even before a word of testimony was delivered, the hearings, like the deal itself, were mired in controversy. Opposition parties have objected that the hearings would achieve little, apart from possibly intimidating potential witnesses to corruption or tipping off suspects that they were under observation.