Court to decide on witness pay

2008-10-02 19:36

Johannesburg - The Constitutional Court will decide on Friday whether daily allowances are payable to all members of families in the witness protection programme.

Phineas Lekolwane, of Limpopo, has asked the court for an order that everyone in a household under protection be entitled to a R10 daily allowance where the guardian cannot earn a living because of being in the programme.

The Constitutional Court will hand down judgment in the matter at 10:00 on Friday.

The Lekolwane family was placed in the programme on August 15 1998 after members of his community violently expelled him and his family from their area and set fire to his home and spaza shop, destroying them. As a result, he lost the source of income with which he supported his family.

In 2002, after the department of justice and constitutional development had refused to pay Lekolwane, his wife and three children an allowance of R10 each, he took the matter to the Pretoria High Court.

However, it dismissed his application, holding that his wife had received no income before he was placed in protective custody and their children were legally incompetent to receive any income.

Lekolwane then appealed to a full bench of the High Court. It too dismissed the case, finding that it could not be shown that his wife and children forfeited income because he was placed on the programme.

Lekolwane was now claiming that this interpretation of the law was unconstitutional because it unfairly discriminated against his family, and violated the rights of his children and family to dignity, healthcare, food and social security.

- SAPA