Cape Town - Speculation is once again rife in Parliament that the African National Congress is considering taking action and even expelling Andrew Feinstein its former head of the study group in the influential Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), who was removed for being too supportive of the position taken by opposition parties regarding the arms deal controversy.  

Rumours of the pending action against Feinstein were fuelled this week after the organisation suggested it hold a meeting with him regarding comments he made during his address at the University of the Western Cape recently.  

Although the party yesterday denied it was currently considering expelling Feinstein from Parliament, sources close to the organisation told City Press this was the case.  

The party last week indicated it would be meeting Feinstein to discuss comments he made in public, which are contrary the ANC's position on the arms deal and the exclusion of Judge Willem Heath in the multi-million rand arms deal.  

ANC parliamentary chief whip Tony Yengeni on Saturday denied the movement was likely to take action against Feinstein in the coming days. "The expulsion of Feinstein is not something we are planning to follow up at this point," he said.  

Speculation over the future of Feinstein in the ruling party has been going on for a while since he was demoted from heading Scopa and replaced by the party's deputy chief whip, Geoff Doidge.  

According to sources within the ANC, the party leadership has been concerned with comments attributed to Feinstein since he was sacked from leading the party in Scopa. His conduct has been seen as "ill-disciplined" and party sources say there was a move to bring disciplinary measures against him.  

The sources say the organisation is also worried that a move to axe Feinstein could be interpreted as a cover-up, a suggestion made after the party leadership demoted him in Scopa. But the party is also faced with a dilemma that if it does not act against him, it would be sending out mixed messages to the other members of the party in Parliament.  

Analysts believe the whole issue around Feinstein is an attempt to divert attention from the more damaging problem of a leadership crisis in the ANC in parliament, brought about by the arms deal investigation. 

"It is an attempt by the ANC to manage the process, which is normal within any party. This has only helped to fuel the perception that the ANC is trying to cover up something," said Sean Jacobs of the Institute for Democracy in South Africa.  

According to Jacobs, the ANC is repeating the same mistake it made with the handling of Judge Heath, the apparent attack on Gavin Woods and the way it replaced Feinstein in Scopa whether with good intentions or not.  

With acknowledgment to Zolile Nqayi and News24.