24/03/2004 16:22 - (SA)
Cape Town - The official opposition Democratic Alliance may put the issue of the deployment to Haiti of a South African Air Force Boeing 707 in the hands of the National Director of Public Prosecutions, Bulelani Ngcuka - if no response to queries is forthcoming from President Thabo Mbeki.
In a statement on Wednesday, DA leader Tony Leon said: "Up until this date the Presidency has thrown down a veil of secrecy over the deployment of a South African Air Force Boeing 707 to transport arms, and other material, to Haiti."
The aircraft - kitted with crowd control equipment - was deployed shortly before the president Jean Bertrand Aristide left the country.
Leon said: "It appears to us, after considering legal advice, and counsel's opinion, that the President had no power to authorise the employment of the Defence Force to export arms to Haiti. Section 201(2) of the Constitution (Act 108 of 1996) read together with Section 18 of the Defence Act (Act 42 of 2002) empowers the president to authorise the employment of the Defence Force in very limited and defined circumstances.
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