Political reporter Ranjeni Munusamy was taking legal advice on Wednesday about whether to appear before the Hefer Commission of Inquiry, which will on Monday start probing allegations whether the National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka was a spy for the apartheid government.
”My lawyers are still going through the subpoena. I’ll know more during the course of the day,” Munusamy told the Mail & Guardian Online.
The Sowetan newspaper quoted Munusamy earlier this week as saying that she would refuse to testify before the commission.
”I don’t plan to testify either way. I am refusing to do so because of the normal journalistic principle of protection of sources taking precedence over everything else,” Munusamy reportedly said.
She recently resigned from the Sunday Times. This was after admitting that she had passed on documents to the City Press showing Ngcuka had been investigated by the African National Congress for allegedly spying for the apartheid government.
”I knew this would be an explosive story once it broke. I knew there would be serious repercussions. This thing (the story) has just grown wings. It’s a bit overwhelming. Now and then I just have to stop … It’s a trying time,” she said on Wednesday morning.
The Sunday Times will pay Munusamy’s legal costs.
Meanwhile, witnesses summoned by the Hefer Commission of Inquiry may not refuse to testify or refuse to answer any question, commission secretary John Bacon said on Tuesday.
However, witnesses might ask not to be identified and to testify in camera, he said.
The commission, headed by retired appeal judge president Joos Hefer, is expected to start on Monday with a series of public hearings at the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein. A list of witnesses to be called has not yet been released by its secretariat. ‒ Sapa, Staff Reporter
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