In the previous edition of our Media Law Newsletter (available here) we reported that the Pretoria High Court had, for the second time, ordered the Presidency to release a report prepared for the Presidency on the 2002 Zimbabwean national elections.

The High Court had been ordered by the Constitutional Court to consider the contents of the report in light of the grounds raised by the Presidency in seeking to withhold the release of the report. Judge Raulinga found, in his judgment of 7 March 2013, that the contents of the report did not support these grounds, and ordered the report to be handed over to the Mail & Guardian.

The Presidency filed an application for leave to appeal to the Full Bench of the Pretoria High Court. The application was heard on 24 July 2013 and judgment has been reserved.

This protracted court dispute has been running for over fiveyears, since the Mail & Guardian filed an application for access to the report on 17 June 2008. The Webber Wentzel media team has been acting for the Mail & Guardian since the inception of the case.