Udi ya-Nakamhela : ...his party over the arms deal. Feinstein led the ANC and the Public Accounts Committee SCOPA. He helped spearhead the investigation into the controversial multi-billion Rand arms deal in October last year but once the investigation was underway, Feinstein and the arms deal probe fell out of favour. Marion Edmonds reports.

Marion Edmonds : The public accounts committee has recently brought itself back from the brink of collapse following months of bruising fights over the arms deal investigation. But despite the new spirit of goodwill amongst the MP's there's already been one casualty. The ANC's former chief MP on the committee, Andrew Feinstein, ended his political career today by announcing his resignation from parliament.

Andrew Feinstein : It became impossible to express my views on the deal on what was happening generally in the public accounts committee without facing disciplinary difficulties.

Marion Edmonds : After hearing a range of allegations, Feinstein along with other MP's pushed for an investigation into the arms deal. But cabinet angrily denied any wrong doing and came down hard on the ANC, putting huge pressure on SCOPA to limit the investigation. Despite a demotion, Feinstein stood firmly convinced that there were irregularities in the deal that had to be probed.

Andrew Feinstein : My view hasn't changed. It isn't going to change unless compelling evidence to the contrary is brought to my attention. And I came to the conclusion that I would rather loose my job than my integrity on this issue.

Marion Edmonds : Feinstein has degrees in Economics and Public Finance Management, but his successor said today that he was not indispensable.

Vincent Smith, ANC MP : We do not believe that anybody is irreplaceable and therefore I think SCOPA, and the ANC component of SCOPA, will find a way around complementing what Andrew had brought along with him.

Marion Edmonds : But opposition MP's were dismayed at the news.

Gavin Woods, SCOPA Chair : I think we have come to know the extent of Andrew's integrity and his courage in standing by that integrity no matter the consequences. I consider it to be a very serious loss to parliament.

Marion Edmonds : Feinstein says he remain a member of the ANC but wants to pursue other career interests.

Marion Edmonds, e-news, parliament.

Udi ya-Nakamhela : Away from parliament, the public enquiry into the arms deal has been continued in Pretoria after two long days of cross examination. Richard Young a defence contractor was looking forward to his legal team cross examining witnesses who have rejected his allegations. Young claims he was sidelined by dirty dealings in the arms deal. But his day in court was cut short after his legal team was frustrated in following their lines of questioning by public protector Selby Baqwa. Guy Oliver was there.

Guy Oliver : This was the day private defence contractor Richard Young and his legal team was relishing. Young was up against six legal teams when he was cross examined over a two day period. It was time to test the state witnesses. Witnesses who young had accused of dirty dealings in the R43 billion arms deal. It was not to be. Young and the legal team left after a few hours, suspicious that the playing fields are not level.

Richard Young : In terms of my own testimony I think I am quit satisfied. But in terms of the cross examination by my senior council of especially the rebuttal witnesses, we felt a little bit constrained in being able to test their evidence.

Adam Pitman : There was constraint by the rulings of the public protector in that his line of questioning was not going to be permitted. But on the whole I can say that I do believe that there was a fair procedure as a whole.

Guy Oliver : Reservations about fairness is the last thing the public protector needs. The arms enquiry got off to a bad start when the electronic media was banned, relegating it's status from a public forum to a back room meeting. The question, "who is the public protector protecting?", is a question that could seriously damage Selby Baqwa's office. Guy Oliver, e-news, Pretoria.

With acknowledgements to Udi ya-Nakamhela, Marion Edmonds, Andrew Feinstein, Vincent Smith, Gavin Woods, Guy Oliver, Richard Young, Adam Pitman and eNews at 7.