Police inquiry parties want documents
2013-03-11 21:30
Cape Town - An application to order Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa and three others to hand over documents in the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry court matter was postponed in the Western Cape High Court on Monday.
Judge Siraj Desai said he would postpone the application by Western Cape Premier Helen Zille and the provincial community safety executive council for a week.
He said this would allow the parties to decide if the matter would be opposed, or if a more "sensible agreement" could be reached.
Zille established the inquiry last August to investigate alleged police inefficiency in the area. Mthethwa opposed this. The matter was heard in the Western Cape High Court and his application for interim relief was dismissed in January.
In the majority judgment handed down, it was concluded that Zille had fully complied with the principles of co-operative government.
The main application to review Zille's decision is pending before the High Court.
In November, Zille and the community safety council served notice on the applicants to provide them with documents they had referred to in their founding papers.
They said these papers were either not annexed to the affidavits delivered in support of the application, or that only extracts of these documents were supplied.
They were entitled to inspect these documents and make copies.
The documents related to affidavits given by Mthethwa, national police commissioner Riah Phiyega, Western Cape police commissioner Arno Lamoer, and civilian secretariat for the police service Jenni Irish-Qhobosheane.
Should these parties fail to comply with such an order, they wanted authorisation to make further applications for the dismissal of the main application with costs.
Mthethwa has lodged a direct appeal to the Constitutional Court against the denial of interim relief.
According to the Cape Argus, the matter was expected to be heard on 6 August.
The minister's application would be based on the contents of a minority judgment in his unsuccessful bid to stop the inquiry, which concluded that inter-governmental processes had not been fully complied with.
The commission of inquiry would reportedly not hold public hearings in the interim, but would still allow residents to make statements at the commission offices in Khayelitsha on weekdays between 9am and 1pm.
- SAPA
