EFF Ordered to Pay Legal Costs, Court Rejects Bid to Unseal CR17 Bank Statements
- The Pretoria High Court has rejected the EFF's application to have President Cyril Ramaphosa's CR17 bank statements made public
- The High Court also ordered the party to pay all legal costs for the time spent by the court to hear their application
- Julius Malema, the EFF's party leader, took to Twitter to express his dissatisfaction with the High Court's ruling
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The Economic Freedom Fighters have been ordered by the Pretoria High Court to pay legal costs after the party's application to have President Ramaphosa's bank statements in connection to his CR17 ANC presidential campaign unsealed was dismissed.
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The EFF will now have to pay a monetary sum to the courts to reimburse them for their time, according to The South African.
The EFF, along with other public figures, approached the courts to have Ramaphosa's bank statements revealed, mainly to find out who his donors were during his election campaign.
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Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has also approached the courts in the same bid and was recently dealt with the same fate by the Constitutional Court, reports News24.
The EFF's application was linked to Mkwebane's application to the same court, which also dismissed her application to have Ramaphosa's bank statements revealed.
Senior Counsel of the EFF Ishmael Semenya stated that the party's application to have the president's bank statement unsealed was in the public interest. He further added that the party was not trying to say that there was anything suspicious with the bank statements.
The EFF party leader took to Twitter to express his discontent with the court ruling, questioning the lack of consideration to the public interest.
CR17: High Court ruling states that bank statements will remain sealed after EFF application
Briefly News recently reported that the Gauteng High Court has dismissed the Economic Freedom Fighters' application to have the bank statements of President Cyril Ramaphosa's CR17 campaign made public. The EFF previously went to the court to attempt to force the disclosure of the payment details.
The application was in relation to Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane's report on the campaign's finances as part of an invalidated report. During the course of the court proceedings, Deputy Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba positively looked at a request from the president's lawyers for the bank statements to be sealed.
The basis for the statements remaining sealed is that they contain information about donors, which is confidential. The EFF later went forth and challenged the above decision.
TimesLIVE reported that documents brought to the court, under the rules of the court, are usually open to the public domain. However, the President's lawyers sealed the statements from the public, stating that the issue should be raised in court by those wishing to challenge the decision.
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Source: Briefly News
