Kingdom Mabuza

Kingdom Mabuza

The Gauteng south high court again postponed the corruption trial of National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi to October 5, after the State pleaded for more time to investigate.

Judge Meyer Joffe was not pleased with the further delay of the case. He questioned the State and Selebi's defence: "Why are you running around in circles?"

Joffe said the delay in giving Selebi his day in court gave the administration of justice "a bad image" in the eyes of the public.

Selebi's defence, led by Jaap Cilliers, cited the withdrawal of an application to the Supreme Court of Appeal to force the State to hand over documents, as willingness to start with the trial.

"The accused does not want to be embroiled in disputes. We are ready for the trial to start," said Cilliers.

He said claims earlier made by prosecutor Gerrie Nel that Selebi was in possession of a file that went missing from the police "was the biggest lie in the world".