Judge avoids open court appearance

According to a report on The Citizen site, Magistrate H Visser said Motata would appear again in court three in the Johannesburg Magistrates’ Court on April 13. Visser said the senior prosecutor had requested that Motata appear in chambers. He was represented by two attorneys. ‘The Director of Public Prosecutions is still waiting for the blood results so that they can decide whether to prosecute or not,’ Visser said. He added Motata had not been charged. Full report on The Citizen site

Justice Department officials were unable to explain why Motata appeared in chambers, instead of an open court. Spokesperson Zolile Nqayi is quoted in a report on the News24 site as saying: ‘It is unusual in a criminal matter for the case to be heard in chambers. It is usually heard in an open court.’ He said a case could be heard in chambers if the presiding officer or both parties made an application to do so. ‘And there has to be reasons for that.’ The SA National Editors\' Forum (Sanef) said it was shocked at the privileged treatment accorded Motata. Sanef\'s media freedom committee chair Raymond Louw said: ‘Sanef protests at this favoured treatment – reminiscent of the pampering accorded ANC\'s Tony Yengeni after being sentenced to a term of imprisonment and businessman Schabir Shaik after he had been jailed.’ According to reports, journalists waited for hours in the court where Motata was due to appear – and where others arrested in similar circumstances would normally appear. Full report on the News24 site

However, the prosecutor who arranged the appearance has defended his action. It was me who asked (the magistrate) if he would be kind enough to grant a postponement in chambers, which he graciously agreed to do…If people think there is something wrong with that, they need to come to me,’ former Gauteng Bar Council chairman Nazeer Cassim SC told The Mercury. And the current head of the Gauteng Bar Council, Gerrit Pretorius SC, agreed, saying there was nothing extraordinary about Motata’s appearance. ‘I understand that the press are probably unhappy. But you can also imagine how it must be for a high-profile person to walk into a courtroom and be confronted by a sea of paparazzi, he said, adding that he was ‘not surprised’ that the judge’s legal team had elected to meet the magistrate in chambers. Full report in The Mercury (subscription needed)