Synopsis:
In a claim premised on the right to open justice, the applicants?a newspaper group?sought an order compelling public disclosure of discrete portions of a record of proceedings of a matter determined by this Court (Masetlha v President of the Republic of South Africa and Others). This Court held that the right to open justice is not absolute, and that a court must decide in all the circumstances of a particular case whether its limitation is in the interests of justice. In this case, the competing constitutional claims were the principle of open justice, and the government?s obligation to pursue national security. The Court held that a security classification alone does not oust the jurisdiction of a court to decide whether they should be protected from disclosure to the media and public. It ruled that the whole of the in camera affidavit at issue should be made available to the public but that the three disputed annexures to the affidavit should not. Majority: Moseneke DCJ ( Madala J, Mpati AJ, Ngcobo J, Nkabinde J and Skweyiya J concurring) Dissent: Yacoob J (Sachs J concurring), Sachs J, Van der Westhuizen J
