Court 'sometimes okay'

2003-08-04 16:08

Pretoria - Those Boeremag trialists contesting the Pretoria High Court's jurisdiction over them had no problem in the past submitting themselves to the powers of courts when they were complainants, the prosecution argued on Monday.

Prosecutor Paul Fick SC told the court eight of the 13 contesting the court's jurisdiction were in the past the complainants in criminal matters or claimants in civil law suits.

"Indeed, since 1994 they have willingly subjected themselves to the courts and the judicial system's jurisdiction, the same institutions they are claiming today are constitutionally illegitimate," he told Judge Eben Jordaan.

Also, another four of the men were not hindered by this "illegitimacy" when they applied for bail before these "illegal" courts, Fick contended.

Earlier, Paul Kruger, for the 13, argued that his clients were not bound by the Constitution, just like followers of the Zulu monarchy.

He said there was no truth to the State's argument that it was impossible for some citizens to be bound by the country's laws, and others not.

Kruger cited the Zulu monarchy, saying it was legally impossible for a republic and a kingdom to exist under one state.

"People who resort under the Zulu monarchy cannot resort under the State," he argued.

"It is indeed a strange situation but it is not new in South Africa that certain people are bound by certain laws and others not."

Kruger's clients entered a special plea that the courts had no jurisdiction over them due to what they described as flaws in the Constitution-making process.

The 13 men and nine others stand accused of plotting to overthrow the government with the objective of declaring a Boer republic.

They face 42 charges, including high treason, terrorism, sabotage, murder, and several firearms and explosives violations.

Should the special plea of his clients succeed, Kruger said, they wished to be tried by an ad hoc international tribunal.

Fick said no such avenue was available to them in terms of local or international law. "It is impossible."

- SAPA