Case against Booysen, co-accused adjourned until 2019
A court bid to have the case against former KZN Hawks head, Johan Booysen and 26 others dropped after a series of delays has been adjourned.
But the judge hearing the matter has stepped in, in what appears to be an attempt to get the ball rolling.
Booysen and his colleagues were arrested in 2012 - on a raft of controversial charges related to their alleged operating of a 'death squad'.
The case has been in and out of court since and has yet to go to trial.
They brought an application for the case to be struck from the roll before Judge Graham Lopes in the Durban High Court yesterday.
Advocate Anton Katz, acting for all 27 accused, brought an application for the matter to be struck from the roll until various other applications that are currently before the court - are finalised.
He argued that his clients have been living in limbo for almost seven years while the state has been holding up these other applications and as a result, the criminal trial.
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The state has argued that it was the defence's fault that it was taking so long to get the ball rolling as it was bringing these applications in a piecemeal fashion.
In something of a surprise move though, Judge Lopes ended up adjourning the application at hand until next October and setting down one of the other applications for this Friday which could in effect speed up proceedings.