Gauteng premier Nomvula Mokonyane has lodged a formal complaint with the justice ministry after state attorneys allegedly bungled the appeal process against a claim involving a brain-damaged boy, an official said on Tuesday.
Writing in The Star newspaper, the Gauteng provincial government's head of communications, Matlakala Motloung, sought to explain why the premier chose to appeal against a nearly R10 million damages claim.
"The truth is that the Office of the State Attorney filed the application for leave to appeal... and were supposed to have applied for a date, and to have filed a record of the high court proceedings within 60 days thereafter.
"The Office of the State Attorney failed to comply with the rules of the court, and the appeal lapsed," wrote Motloung.
The case relates to Prince Sibusiso Khanyi, who was born brain-damaged at the Pholosong Hospital on the East Rand in December 1999.
The High Court in Johannesburg found in February last year that he suffered permanent brain injury because of hospital negligence. It ruled that Mokonyane had to pay his parents, Martha and Simon, nearly R10 million in damages.
The payment never materialised, resulting in the sheriff of the court paying a much publicised visit to the premier's office.
Motloung said the provincial government did not know that the appeal had lapsed.
"Premier Nomvula Mokonyane has expressed her displeasure in the manner in which the State Attorneys handled the matter, going as far as lodging a formal complaint with the minister of justice."
The appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal has since been reinstated, said Motloung.
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