By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The High Court in Johannesburg has struck of the roll an urgent application to interdict President Cyril Ramaphosa from receiving part one of the State Capture Report.
Democracy in Action approached the high court on an urgent basis on Monday with the intention to interdict acting chief justice Raymond Zondo from handing the report to Ramaphosa, arguing he had been “implicated” by witnesses at the inquiry and was thus not best-suited to receive the report.
Judge Avrielle Maier-Frawley has struck Democracy in Action’s urgent bid to stop Zondo from handing the first State Capture Inquiry report to Ramaphosa from the roll – with costs.
She has also granted a punitive costs order against DIA, after the State Capture Inquiry argued that the case was “frivolous”, “shoddy” and an abuse of the urgent court.
Maier-Frawley said she would deliver her reasons in writing by Monday.
The DIA had argued that the president should not be the one to receive the report because he’s been implicated in wrongdoing through testimonies and evidence at the commission.
But lawyers acting on behalf of the state argued that Ramaphosa had already received an electronic copy of part one, and there were no findings implicating him in that report.
Adv Tembeka Ngcukaitobi submitted that Ramaphosa is not receiving the report as an implicated party – but as the head of state.
Ngcukaitobi, responding to reasons why the presidency must receive the report, argued there is binding remedial action.
He also reminded the court that former president Jacob Zuma, although implicated, would have received the report if he was still head of state. Ngcukaitobi also reminded the court that it was Zuma that appointed Zondo to chair the commission.
He then called for the court to order punitive costs against the DIA for abusing court processes.
“This is pure political posturing, this case is completely frivolous and brought on a short term notice, said Ngcukaitobi.
Advocate Timothy Bruinders, acting on behalf of the president and deputy president, also asked the court to strike the case from its roll as it lacked urgency.
Judge Maier-Frawley also pointed out that Zuma had received the first State Capture report by former public protector Thuli Madonsela, while he was implicated in the findings.
She said there are no findings against Ramaphosa just yet and that the report would have been made public and submitted to parliament, so the public interest is served.
The presidency is expected to live stream the report handover at 15:30.
According to the court order of 28 December, the President will have until 30 June 2022 to submit the report to Parliament with an indication of his intentions regarding implementation of the Commission’s recommendations.
“As the President indicated to the Court, only once the final instalment has been received will it be possible to have complete sight of the report’s implications and to develop an implementation plan on the recommendations.
“Ramaphosa has decided that each part of the report will be released to the public immediately after it is submitted to the President by the Commission,” Cabinet said at its recent briefing on 31 December.