Journalist Ranjeni Munusamy intends to appeal against a High Court order that she testify before the Hefer commission, she said on Wednesday.
Munusamy said she would ask for leave to appeal, but was not yet sure whether it would be for an application to the Supreme Court of Appeal or the Constitutional Court.
Earlier this week, Bloemfontein High Court Judge President JP Malherbe upheld a decision by former judge Joos Hefer that Munusamy must testify before his commission. Hefer granted her the right to object to certain questions after she maintained that testifying would force her to reveal confidential sources.
Munusamy nevertheless took his decision on review to the High Court, where she argued that the order violated her constitutional rights. She relied particularly on the right to freedom of speech, including a free media.
She further argued that if she were called to testify, it should be after all other avenues of inquiry had been exhausted.
Munusamy was the main author of a news story in which allegations first surfaced that National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka was an apartheid spy. Hefer was appointed shortly afterwards to investigate them.
Munusamy and two other journalists, Elias Maluleke from City Press and Joe Thloloe from e-tv, were scheduled to testify before Hefer on Thursday.
However, this was postponed on Wednesday when the judge adjourned his public hearings until Monday.
Ngcuka’s main accusers, Mac Maharaj and Mo Shaik, are scheduled to be called to the stand on Monday. — Sapa