Following on the saga about the arms deal and on information revealed by Andrew Feinstein, former ANC chairman of Scopa, it has become imperative for the public to demand that an independent judicial commission be appointed.

The commission should fully investigate allegations of massive corruption in the multibillion-rand arms deal.

What has been dealt with in the courts concerning Tony Yengeni and ANC president Jacob Zuma appears to be "the tip of an iceberg" and could well be a ruse to distract attention from the real and much bigger issue.

The unprecedented legal efforts that are being made seem to point to conclusive factual evidence of an acknowledgement that there is culpability in a pending case, but that it needs to be backed up with the available documented evidence to which accessibility is sought to be prevented.

If the handling of the awarding of the contracts was above board, as cabinet ministers have repeatedly claimed, why the reticence to appoint an independent judicial commission (free of political subservience) that could dispel ongoing rumours.

V Volker, Pietermaritzburg