[1] The applicants approached the court as a matter of urgency, armed with a directive issued by one of my brother judges on 26th July 2013 pursuant to Practice Rule 12 (a) (i) of the Joint Rules of Practice for the High Courts of the Eastern Cape Province (The Joint Rules of Practice). The directive required that the matter be issued and served upon the respondents in terms of the Uniform Rules of Court on or before 1st August 2013 and that the matter be set down for hearing on 8th August 2013. Regrettably, for reasons which will become apparent, it is necessary to set out something of the subsequent history of this matter at this point.