Marianne Merten
Several copies of unedited recordings made by international broadcasters the night Hard Livings gang lord Rashaad Staggie was killed in 1996 are now before a Cape High Court judge.
State witness Mr A on Thursday testified how police seized videotapes on two occasions since November last year, including at least two copies of Reuters’s unedited footage.
“They seized every single tape that looked like a videotape and some documents as well,” he told Judge John Foxcroft about the police search at Cape Town International airport.
For nearly five years Reuters and Associated Press have opposed numerous subpoenas from the state to obtain copies of the footage. The two news organisations are fighting another application in the London courts.
The state says the video material is crucial to its murder and public violence case against five current and former members of People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad), including leader Abdus-Salaam Ebrahim and ex-spiritual adviser Abdurazak Ebrahim.
The other accused are Pagad security chief Salie Abader, member Moegsien Mohamed and ousted leader Nadthmie Edries.
After hours of legal arguments over the admissibility of the videotapes, Judge Foxcroft ruled he would consider the material and would hear further arguments at a later stage.
Mr A, who cannot be identified on instruction of the court, testified how the material was difficult to obtain even in 1996 as “Reuters was concerned” about the footage.
He said days after Staggie’s murder he went to the Reuters Cape Town offices to view the material and had to request permission for certain frames to be copied.
He also testified how various people had subsequently supplied him with copies of the full, unedited material of that night. On one occasion he was asked to pay.
Mr A was not on the scene when Staggie was shot.