An alleged Boeremag member who blamed a lawyer for his failure to be granted bail could not get the Pretoria High Court’s permission on Friday for his bail application be heard anew.
Pretoria businessman Adriaan van Wyk asked the court to urgently set aside a finding by regional court magistrate Matys de Wit not to grant him bail, and to give him the opportunity to bring a fresh bail application.
Judge Ronnie Bosielo ruled that the application was not urgent, as Van Wyk was the one responsible for delaying it.
Van Wyk is to stand trial, along with 22 men, from May 19 on charges of treason, sabotage and terrorism for allegedly trying to overthrow the government.
He was arrested in August last year and brought a bail application later that month, which was refused. Pretoria High Court judge Dikgang Moseneke dismissed his appeal against the refusal.
Van Wyk then instructed his counsel to apply for leave to appeal against Moseneke’s judgment, but that application was withdrawn.
Arrangements were subsequently made for a new bail application, based on new facts. However, Van Wyk did not proceed with that bid, presumably because the state informed his counsel that those facts were not new, Bosielo said.
Herman Barnard, for Van Wyk, argued that Louiza van der Walt, who represented him until middle December, failed to use certain affidavits in his bail application that could have secured his release.
This was because those affidavits could incriminate other accused represented by Van der Walt or her husband, Harry Prinsloo, Barnard said.
But Bosielo said that during all that time, Van Wyk never complained to De Wit, Van der Walt or his attorney about the way in which his bail application was conducted.
”The facts justify the inference that the applicant was willing to, and did accept all legal advice given to him by (Van der Walt).” It was only after Van Wyk had terminated Van der Walt’s services and appointed a new attorney that he expressed dissatisfaction.
All bail proceedings were urgent, the judge said.
”However, it emerges clearly from the evidence… that since the arrest of the applicant, all attempts by him to be released on bail have been treated with the urgency they deserved.” It could not be disputed that Van Wyk was responsible for all the delays in the process, Bosielo said.
”I am not persuaded that the applicant has proved to the court that the matter is sufficiently urgent to be heard.
”Neither has the applicant satisfied me that he has acted diligently, reasonably and expeditiously in preparing documentation for this application.” The application for a review was therefore dismissed with costs for lack of urgency, the judge said.
Van Wyk’s attorney, Henri Taljaard, told Sapa he would continue to pursue efforts to have his client released on bail. ‒ Sapa