Judgment on police inquiry reserved
2012-12-13 22:26
Cape Town - Judgment was reserved in the Western Cape
High Court on Thursday in the application by Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa
against a commission of inquiry into policing in Khayelitsha.
Mthethwa's advocate Norman Arendse said an interdict was
urgent as Western Cape Premier Helen Zille's decision to appoint the commission
would have an impact on the independence of the SAPS.
"Appointing a commission of inquiry with coercive
powers is an intrusion on the separation of powers," Arendse said.
He was responding to arguments by lawyers representing
Zille, the Social Justice Coalition (SJC), and the commission itself.
Peter Hawthorne, for the SJC, told the court Mthethwa's
legal team had failed to prove the commission would cause irreparable harm to
the SAPS.
Hawthorne agreed the premier's setting up of the
commission was an intrusion of the powers of the SAPS.
"It's a constitutionally mandated intrusion the
applicants have to live with," he argued.
Francois van Zyl, acting for the commission, said the aim
was not to interfere in police functions.
"The work of the commission would be forward
looking... it would focus on systemic issues," Van Zyl told the court.
The court was packed with SJC activists who led the call
for the commission to be established following a string of vigilante killings
in Khayelitsha.
Community members complained police inaction had led to
residents taking the law into their own hands.
The O'Regan/Pikoli commission was meant to hold public
hearings from 12 November to 14 December.
The commission has since suspended pending the outcome of
Mthethwa's application.
- SAPA
