Cape Town - Police Minister Bheki Cele has done an about-turn on filing an application to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) to fight a high court order directing the SAPS to pay the legal fees of a former apartheid-era police officer on trial for the killing of the Cosas 4.
In January, the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg issued an order dismissing Cele’s application for leave to appeal last May’s judgment directing the police to pay the legal fees of Christiaan Siebert Rorich, one of the accused in the Cosas 4 matter.
At the time, State Attorney Kobus Meier, representing the police minister, said that he had instructions from the minister to petition the SCA and if necessary the Constitutional Court on the matter.
However, the instructions have changed and Meier has since informed the legal team at the Legal Resources Centre (LRC), which is acting for the Cosas 4 families, that Cele had changed his mind about proceeding with the appeal to the SCA.
Cele had previously given Parliament an undertaking that investigations arising out of the TRC in terms of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act were receiving the attention of the Hawks.
The Hawks have since hired investigators on a three-year contract basis and 34 of these investigators have been specifically assigned to investigate these TRC cases.
Last year, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) referred 129 cases from the TRC to the Hawks for further investigations.
Initially, the SAPS refused to pay Rorich’s legal fees, citing mainly procedural arguments to justify the decision.
Foundation for Human Rights (FHR) spokesperson Kholekile Mnisi said this initial refusal was surprising, bearing in mind that they had readily agreed to pay the legal fees of former police officers in other apartheid-era cases, such as those of Ahmed Timol, Neil Aggett, Hoosain Haffejee and in the Haron inquests.
On Friday, after news of Cele’s change of mind, Mnisi said: “The FHR and the LRC are calling on the State Attorney and the defence counsel for Rorich to proceed with the finalisation of the fee arrangements as soon as possible in order to avoid further delays.”
Rorich was a member of the SAP, the forerunner to the post-apartheid SAPS. The other accused, Thlomedi Mfalapitsa, was a former MK member turned police informer who later joined the Security Branch.
Rorich and Mfalapitsa are on trial for the murder of Eustice “Bimbo” Madikela, Itumeleng Peter Matabane, Fanyana Nhlapo, and the serious injury of Zandisile Musi.
The four anti-apartheid activists were members of the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) and they were collectively known as the Cosas 4.
FHR said in a statement that the payment of legal costs for former officers of the former SAP should be expedited in all TRC cases, including the Caiphus Nyoka, Musa Sbo Phewa and Ntombikayise Khubeka matters.