A Pretoria High Court judge has reserved judgement in the Mail & Guardian‘s legal challenge of a controversial 2005 report by Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana about his investigation into the Oilgate scandal.
The M&G wants to have the report overturned and rewritten.
Judge Justice Poswa not only reserved judgement in the complicated case, but also said he will request the judge president not to place other matters before him so that he can give his full attention to the matter.
The M&G last year launched an application under the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act, which allows official actions to be reviewed. Poswa this week said it is a matter of great public interest.
Mushwana and his office have been accused of being ”soft” on ministers and the African National Congress (ANC). The M&G‘s application is the first court challenge to him.
The M&G‘s Oilgate articles exposed how oil trader Imvume Management paid R11-million to the ANC after obtaining an advance from PetroSA. When Imvume was unable to pay its own suppliers, PetroSA doubled the payment. Public money, the M&G said, found its way into ANC coffers.
Mushwana was asked by the Democratic Alliance and Freedom Front Plus to investigate these and related M&G allegations. His report, widely condemned as a whitewash when released in July 2005, found no wrongdoing by PetroSA.
Mushwana did not investigate Imvume’s ”donation” to the ANC, claiming this fell outside his jurisdiction because the company and the party were private entities and the money, once in Imvume’s hands, could not be described as belonging to the public.
Mushwana’s report said ”much of what has been published by the M&G was factually incorrect, based on incomplete information and documentation and comprised unsubstantiated suggestions and unjustified speculation”.
The M&G argues Mushwana wrongly excluded key allegations from his jurisdiction, failed to fully investigate allegations he concluded were within his jurisdiction, and showed bias.
Mushwana denies this and disputes the M&G‘s right to bring the challenge. Advocate Vincent Maleka, for Mushwana, told the court on Thursday: ”We will … deal with the applicants’ allegations relating to their locus standi. We will show that none exists, and none was proved.”