Issued by: Office of the President
The office of the president is still studying the judgement in the matter of President Nelson Mandela and the SA Rugby Football Union.
The judgement is quite long - about 1200 pages - it will therefore take considerable time before a comprehensive statement can be made.
We expect to issue a statement in the next 48 hours.
The office of the president would like to indicate that the president will continue to appeal against the judgement and that it was merely for purposes of establishing the reasons for ruling against the president that the appeal had not been lodged yet.
While the legal matters are still being considered by legal counsel we would like to register our strong objections to the beligerant tone of the judges remarks about the president's conduct in the witness box.
Unfortunately the nature of the remarks makes it impossible for any reasonable person not to believe the observations that were made about the history of the judge.
The president, however, appeals that the holistic circumstances of the case be taken into account when formulating an opinion on the judgement and that the attitude of the judge not withstanding nothing should be done or said to question the integrity and independence of our judiciary.
Issued by Parks Mankahlana President's office