Presidency moves against copy of missing Khampepe report

An original copy was found with its authors after the Presidency's original went missing from the High Court last month, in circumstances presiding Judge Joseph Raulinga suggested were suspicious. A Mail & Guardian report notes its six-year legal battle to have the report released in the public interest took another turn last week, ahead of an appeal by the Presidency against Raulinga's ruling last year that the report be handed to the M&G, after he had exercised his power to take a 'judicial peek' at it. The report says unexpected correspondence from State Attorney Petros Rakoatsi suggested that the M&G's hopes of having the report restored to the custody of the courts might have been derailed, had it not been for the timely intervention of SCA President Lex Mpati. The report notes the Presidency's effort to intercept the report was all the more extraordinary in light of an unusual meeting between Raulinga and the legal teams representing the M&G and the Presidency last month. At the meeting, moments before revealing that the report had gone missing, Raulinga appeared to rebuke Rakoatsi for having made several unsolicited and unsuccessful attempts to retrieve the report from the judge's custody during court recess, while the judge was away. In later correspondence with the Registrar of the SCA, Rakoatsi said he rejected any insinuation he had knowledge of where the report was or that he had a hand in its disappearance.

When the M&G tracked down the original copy, Rakoatsi quickly intervened, stating he was taking instructions from President Jacob Zuma. He informed the SCA that the report was a 'confidential document' of the President, and that all copies should be delivered to him, notes the Mail & Guardian report. It says Rakoatsi argued the President of the court did not have the authority to issue directions regarding the custody of the report. 'In addition, it is our considered view that, on principle, the SCA should not involve itself in any disputes between the parties that may arise with regard to the proof of the identity, provenance, ownership and entitlement to custody and control of any missing or existing documents that are not before the court,' he wrote. Webber Wentzel media lawyers Dario Milo and Ben Winks, on behalf of the M&G, wrote an urgent letter to Mpati, noting there had been a request to send the report to Zuma, and not to the SCA. They drew attention to the SCA's inherent power to protect and regulate its own process, under section 173 of the Constitution, and specifically the power as the president of this court to give such direction in such matters. Mpati has since informed the parties that he had sent a letter to Justices Sisi Khampepe and Dikgang Moseneke, asking them to send him a copy of the report. Full Mail & Guardian report