Webber Wentzel has been representing amaBhungane in two separate court applications in relation to the upgrade of President Jacob Zuma's estate in Nkandla (Nkandla Estate). Both court applications have been brought in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act, No. 2 of 2000 (PAIA).

The first application involves a request for all records relating to expenditure by the Department of Public Works on the improvement of the Nkandla Estate. The Department initially claimed that all of the documents related to the upgrade were security-sensitive and therefore could not be disclosed. amaBhungane argued that this simply could not be so and subsequently the Department disclosed approximately 12 000 pages of documents relating to the upgrade. The disclosed documents were, however, replete with omissions and did not contain communications by top-level officials, for instance between the Ministers and the President.

The Department has claimed that such documents do not exist. The legal team argued that the matter should be referred to oral evidence so that various state officials can have the veracity of their versions tested under cross-examination.

If successful, it will be the first time a PAIA request has ever been referred for oral evidence. The matter was argued in the High Court of South Africa (Gauteng Division, Pretoria) on 5 and 6 November 2013, and we are currently awaiting judgment.

The second court application by amaBhungane relates to a request for the release of the "top secret" report on the expenditure by the task team which was appointed by the Minister of Public Works late last year. This application follows amaBhungane’s PAIA request which was lodged on the 31 January 2013. After the Department inexplicably failed to respond to both the initial PAIA request and the internal appeal, amaBhungane instituted court proceedings on 26 August 2013.