Anglican Communion News Service

By Siphiwe Sithole
Intern, Anglican Communion Communications, London

The Archbishop of Cape Town, the Most Revd Njongonkulu Ndungane, who called for a judicial inquiry into the feasibility of a controversial arms deal, has again called on the South African President to put the country and its future first by implementing parliament's recommendations.

While two months ago, millions of South Africans were relieved that the parliament's public accounts committee has called for an unprecedented multi-agency forensic investigation, Archbishop Ndungane reiterated his call for a judicial inquiry into the deal.

'We call on government to honour the recommendations of parliament without delay. A failure to do that would pose a very serious threat to our fragile democracy,' he said, 'one of the constitutional functions of parliament is the exercise of oversight over the executive'.

He warned: 'Were the executive to override parliament and set up its terms of reference for this investigation, as apartheid government used to do, South Africa would enter into a downward slippery road to becoming a banana republic'.

Archbishop Ndungane said the fact that parliament has recommended a high level investigation by all units with a wide range of expertise confirms their initial proposal.