South Africa's ruling party have ousted a leading member of a parliamentary committee investigating a seven-billion-pound arms deal and moved party loyalists onto the panel.
The move followed statements by President Thabo Mbeki and several ministers that the 43 billion rand (£6.79bn) deal was above board and that anyone suggesting otherwise was attacking the African National Congress government.
Mr Andrew Feinstein, the leading ANC member of the public accounts committee who had championed an inquiry into the deal, was ousted and replaced by the party's deputy chief whip Mr Geoff Doidge, leading political analysts to express concern about the government's action.
"This is an open clash between parliament and the executive," political analyst Mr Sampie Terreblanche told Reuters. "This is a constitutional crisis. It would be a sad day if this would be the first sign of presidential authoritarianism," he added.
The ANC had a majority on the committee, which is headed by a member of the Inkatha Freedom Party, but previously not exerted its political power in a forum that has traditionally been non-partisan.
But the ruling party ignored the understanding today as it moved several other loyalists including chief whip Mr Tony Yengeni onto the committee and its study groups.
The arms deal signed in December 1999, involving arms firms in Germany, Italy, Sweden, Britain, France and South Africa, is supposed to offset investments worth 104 billion rand and create 65,000 much-needed jobs.
But allegations of bribery and corruption have surrounded it, and a preliminary study by the auditor-general last year called for an in-depth review after finding serious flaws in procedure.
The ANC say the moves are aimed at beefing up its team on the parliamentary committee, as other parties had already done, because of the serious nature of the probe. But analysts put a more sinister interpretation on the changes.
There is a palace revolution in the ANC, said Mr Richard Calland of the Institute for Democracy in South Africa. "This is the end of the road for this committee as far as it has operated impartially in the past," he said.
Mr Willie Breytenbach, professor of political science at Stellenbosch University, said it was a bad day for a country still shaking off apartheid. "This is a massive step backwards in terms of consolidating our very fragile democracy," he said. "This is muzzling the independence of those institutions that are supposed, under the constitution, to ensure accountability and transparency.
Reuters