The ANC Parliamentary caucus on Monday said it would ask Parliament to investigate the DA for putting national security at risk after disclosing details of allegedly dodgy government arms deals.

"Caucus will ask Parliament to investigate whether the DA has contravened the National Conventional Arms Control Act 41 of 2002 by disclosing details of the South African government's arms deals with other countries, thereby putting the country's national security at risk," the office of the ANC chief whip said in a statement.

The report, released by the Democratic Alliance on 2 August, alleges that the government was involved in arms deals with Syria, Iran, Zimbabwe, North Korea, Libya and Venezuela.

It claims the government was responsible for "arming dictators all over the world", the ANC said.

"The report, which contains illegally obtained information, with sprinkles of falsehoods to sweeten the story, has since been responded to by the NCACC [National Conventional Arms Control Committee] chairperson, Minister Jeff Radebe.

"The ANC Parliamentary Caucus will this week request that Parliament apply its mind on the Democratic Alliance's report on the state of the country's arms deals and take the necessary action," said the ANC.

It said that according to Section 23(3) of the National Conventional Arms Control Act, "no person may disclose any classified document or the content thereof concerning the business of the Committee (NCACC) except with the permission of a competent authority or as required in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000."

Anyone contravening this law, can be fined or jailed for up to 20 years, or both.

"Parliament has a responsibility to conduct an investigation into this matter and take appropriate action where necessary, lest we become a lawless state where even MPs, our country's lawmakers, can willy-nilly play political football with sensitive information without due regard to the security of the country," said the ANC.

But Democratic Alliance MP David Maynier, who released the report, said there were "no credible grounds for any such investigation".

"The various inherent contradictions which underlie the ANC's response to this matter, suggest that, were any such investigation to take place, it would be nothing more than a witch hunt, as opposed to a legitimate inquiry," said Maynier.

"If the details of the various arms deals the DA reported on are not allowed to be made public... why was the minister prepared to discuss them before the press? Surely his response should have been that these matters are strictly confidential?," asked Maynier.

He said the Parliamentary oversight committee on defence and military veterans was to consider the report on Wednesday.

"The fact of the matter is, the ANC government is doing dodgy arms deals with undemocratic countries. That information was being kept from the public and the DA acted, correctly I believe, to explain to the South African public what its elected government was doing," said Maynier.

Do you think the DA poses a national security threat? Or does the public have the right to know the details of dodgy arms deals?

Sapa

It's JZ, leave a message... "Hi, this is Zuma. You know what to do. No, no... not the machine gun. Leave a message..."

Finding love in Zululand Susan Pletts ventures into Zululand and discovers that SA's hidden treasures are its people.

Visit our politics page Need the latest political news, features, interviews and profiles? Visit our dedicated page...