Gauteng Division

It's a very, very interesting matter before the court.

It's in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria and the opening exchanges in the trial of two former senior officials at the State Security Agency.

The opening exchanges have been very much focused on whether there can be any coverage of this particular trial at all.

Initially, the judge ruled no media access whatsoever will threaten coverage.

Mr. Karim was identified as a person of interest in October 2025 and was subpoenaed in November last year to appear before the Commission, give evidence, and provide specified information and documentation relevant to matters falling within the Commission's terms of reference.

Mr. Karim then brought an urgent application before the Gauteng High Court on the 5th of February this year to interdict the Commission from calling on him to file a written statement or from subpoenaing him pending the determination of his application to review and set aside the Regulation 10(6) notice or notices issued for his response.

The interdict application was struck off the roll with costs.

Mr. Karim then appeared before the Commission on the 9th and 10th of March this year, but did not return to the witness stand as scheduled in April, June, and July due to medical reasons.

When we came across this on Friday, quite by chance, We immediately tried to get access to proceedings.

Kyle Cowan, our reporter, was asked to leave the court's GC in the Pretoria High Court, drafted papers over the weekend, and then lodged our application yesterday.

It was heard this morning.

Quite interesting to hear the judge say, sounding seemingly very antagonistic towards the media's participation in this, saying that this was self-created by the media.

Gose and an attorney immediately acted upon that information and sought copies of the summons and returned.

Now, after the Gauteng division upheld Gose's special plea of prescription and refused leave to appeal, it gets reconsidered.

Now...

The main issue here at the SCA was whether the summons had in fact been affixed at Gose's residence, because it's obviously going to affect prescription.

Now...

The Rule 30 order was setting aside Barnard's Rule 23.3 application to a regular step remained in place.

Now the matter was remitted back to the Gauteng Division for determination of the merits.

I wonder how many years longer this is still going to run for.

Mr Karim had also continuously failed to provide the Commission with information and documentation required under Regulation 10.6. Mr. Karim was identified as a person of interest in October 2025 and was subpoenaed in November last year to appear before the commission, give evidence, and provide specified information and documentation relevant to matters falling within the commission's terms of reference.

Mr. Karim then brought an urgent application before the Gauteng High Court on the 5th of February this year to interdict the Commission from calling on him to file a written statement or from subpoenaing him pending the determination of his application to review and set aside the Regulation 106 notice or notices issued for his response.

The interdict application was struck off the roll with costs.

Mr. Karim then appeared before the Commission on the 9th and 10th of March this year, but did not return to the witness stand as scheduled in April, June and July due to medical reasons.

The Supreme Court of Appeal is the second highest court in the country.

The Gauteng High Court is obviously the busiest court in the country.

Then there were specialist courts like the Labor Court and the Land Court.

And so it was a busy period.

Nhlanhla Mabaso, East Coast Radio News Watch at Durban High Court.

Back in Gauteng, a couple accused of killing their four-year-old daughter and assaulting their three-year-old son are expected to appear before the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Johannesburg again on the 20th of October.

The girl child died of her wounds in a hospital last year.

The pair faces charges of murder, rape, and child abuse.

It was last year when our government tried to give fewer people than they should have social grants and tried to give the people who were receiving social grants less money than they should have.

And a group of NGOs and legal, uh, teams took our Treasury and our minister to court and won comprehensively in the Pretoria High Court, which thereby forced our government to do what was constitutionally correct and provide for people's rights by giving them the social grants they deserved and at the rand value that they should have.

This is how the Constitution works.

It is our greatest guardian and protector against malicious and evil governments.