Constitutional values threatened by Khampepe appeal - lawyer

Earlier this month, the Presidency applied to the Constitutional Court for leave to appeal a SCA judgment that upheld the High Court order, directing the Presidency to give the report to the M&G. Last week Webber Wentzel's Dario Milo - acting on the M&G's behalf - filed opposing papers in the Constitutional Court. He said the Presidency's attempt to appeal demonstrated the extent to which appeal processes were open to abuse. The Presidency had argued that the report's release raised diplomatic issues and that the Presidency only commissioned it for policy formulation. But Milo, in papers, said this was not a constitutional issue. He added that the Presidency had not had access to the report for 20 months, so it could not have relied on it for policy formulation. 'A concomitant risk is that state officials will be inclined to evade accountability simply by refusing access to a record and then dragging the matter through the courts until the issue becomes moot,' Milo said. He added if leave to appeal to the Constitutional Court was granted now, the matter would enter its sixth phase, in its sixth year, before a sixth Bench. Milo said the procedural history of the case should be enough to dismiss the application - because it was not in the interests of justice that the judicial system should have to allocate more of its 'sparse' resources to the case. 'The speed at which a request for access to information is brought to finality goes to the core of the public's ability to hold the state accountable,' Milo said. 'Thus the founding values of the Constitution are at stake.' Full Mail & Guardian report