Court obliges Kgosi Kgari by barring audience

BAME PIET
Staff Writer | Friday June 25, 2010 00:00

 

 When the case in which Masego Sebedi is suing Kgosi Kgari was called, the latter approached the bench and requested that the matter be heard in chambers.

'It is a private matter and I wouldn't want it to be public,' he said.

The magistrate obliged without asking for reasons. The Bakwena paramount has visited the Extension II Magistrates Court on several occasions in response to a lawsuit of child maintenance. In his previous appearances, he has unsuccessfully tried to bar reporters from attending.

Meanwhile, officers at the Broadhurst Magistrates Court refused to give this reporter access to the case record, saying the Registrar and Master of the High Court, Godfrey Nthomiwa, had instructed them that no reporter should be given access to the records.

'We have been told that you should just report what you hear in court, and that's it!,' said one officer before she referred us to another office. Altogether, we were tossed between three offices to no avail.

However, Nthomiwa has denied ever ordering any staff to deny people access to the court records.

He said magistrates were empowered to hear any case in camera in consideration of circumstances such as sensitivity, security or the involvement of minors.

'The rules are there for us to abide by,' he said. 'It is not for me to tell magistrates what to do.'  There are rules to follow when one wants to inspect a case record both at the High Court and the magistrates courts, he added.