The ANC chairman of parliament's ad hoc committee reviewing Vusi Pikoli's fate tabled a report on Tuesday asking MPs to endorse President Kgalema Motlanthe's decision to axe the prosecutions chief.

The draft report met with howls of protest from opposition parties who said they were not consulted about its findings but presented with a politically motivated fait accompli.

"Whose findings are these? Did you allow parliamentary staff, who are political appointees, to come to a finding or did you come to a finding?" Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille demanded.

"This is a bit far-fetched."

Chairman Oupa Monareng conceded that after researchers completed the draft, hours after their deadline to do so expired on Tuesday, he and co-chair Kgoshi Mokoena added the conclusion that the former head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) should go.

"We take responsibility for that," he told the 22-member committee dominated by the African National Congress.

The draft report, which will be debated on Wednesday morning by members, concludes: "The committee finds that President Motlanthe has exercised his mind and endorses the President's decision to remove Advocate Pikoli from the office of the National Director of Public Prosecutions."

It was widely expected that the committee would opt to seal the fate of the prosecutions chief who was suspended by former president Thabo Mbeki in September 2007 as he moved to arrest national police commissioner Jackie Selebi for corruption.

Opposition members have repeatedly protested that they are being "bulldozed" into rubber stamping Motlanthe's decision in December to fire Pikoli.

They rejected a proposal by Monareng that the committee vote on the matter on Tuesday after taking half an hour to study the report.

"I feel like a fool taking part in a farce," Inkatha Freedom Party chief whip Koos van der Merwe complained.

Like De Lille, the Democratic Alliance and the African Christian Democratic Party, he insisted that members be given at least one day to study the 14-page document.

Pikoli was cleared last year by the Ginwala Inquiry but Motlanthe refused to reinstate him, citing concerns that he may have compromised national security.

Appearing before the committee last month, Pikoli insisted that he was sidelined by Mbeki for refusing orders to lay off Selebi and accused the former president of undermining the independence of the NPA.

He also accused the committee of being partisan.

He has written to Motlanthe to warn the president that he planned to challenge his dismissal in court and cautioned him against appointing a new chief prosecutor.

If Parliament ratifies Pikoli's dismissal, the president is legally free to appoint a successor and Durban advocate Muzi Wilfred Mkhize has been tipped for the post.

The appointment is widely watched, as the new NPA boss will inherit responsibility for the corruption case against ANC leader and presidential frontrunner Jacob Zuma.

Under the NPA Act, Parliament has 30 days to review the president's decision to sack the head of the prosecuting authority.

The legislature is set to vote on the committee's recommendations on Thursday, but ANC member Yunus Carrim suggested on Tuesday that legal advice should be taken on whether the review period could be extended.