OWN CORRESPONDENT, George | Monday 1.30PM.
THE trial of former president PW Botha for ignoring a Truth and Reconciliation Commission subpoena was on Monday adjourned for judgment this Friday.
Before the adjournment in the George Regional Court, Botha’s counsel Lappe Laubscher presented his closing arguments, in which he maintained that the TRC’s subpoena was not drawn up lawfully and therefore it was not legally binding.
The decision to subpoena Botha was taken by a TRC panel which was not a legally constituted body, Laubscher said. “According to the State’s own evidence, the commission [itself] didn’t gather [to decide to subpoena Botha] but a body claiming to be the [TRC’s] human rights violations committee did.”
In June, prosecutor Bruce Morrison argued that Botha should have applied to the courts to set aside the subpoena, and that he was not entitled to simply ignore it. Laubscher responded that since the subpoena was not valid or legal, there was no need for Botha to ask the court to set it aside and it therefore “may be ignored with impunity”.
Laubscher also insisted that there was an agreement between Botha and TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu that Botha would be able to answer any of the commission’s questions in writing. Tutu has denied there was ever such an agreement, saying he does not have the authority to grant anyone immunity from appearing before the commission.
Laubscher also argued that the TRC’s mandate — which was later extended — had officially expired by the time it subpoenad Botha.
The court reconvenes on Friday, when judgment is expected to be read at 10.30am.