Efforts to stop President Kgalema Motlanthe from granting pardons to over 100 people convicted of apartheid-era political crimes were postponed by the High Court in Pretoria on Thursday.

Judge Willie Seriti postponed the urgent application brought by a coalition of civil society organisations to April 14.

Seven members of the right-wing Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) were also granted permission to intervene in the matter on the side of the president and justice minister to oppose the challenge.

The coalition of seven groups, including the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation and Khulumani Support Group, would argue that the pardon process was flawed and unlawful.

"We want victims [of politically motivated violence] to make representations when pardons are considered," said legal counsel for the coalition, advocate Lwazi Kubukeli.

Speaking outside the court, he said the State ? the department of justice and the presidency ? had filed papers electronically on Wednesday night. Hard copies were only available on Thursday.

"We've been afforded the opportunity to reply to what the State is saying," he said.

In Motlanthe's opposing affidavit he said he had been advised and verily believed that the coalition had no legal standing to bring the application.

"I respectfully submit that the factual foundation of the application is seriously flawed.

"None of the applicants have adduced evidence to show that they are victims of conflicts of the past, in their own right."

He said the applicants claimed that the pardons' reference group had violated certain rights of victims.

They had however, not identified a constitutional right or rights that would be violated were he to grant or refuse a pardon after considering the recommendations. The rights of the victims had been taken into account during court proceedings, he would argue.

The prisoners had been tried and convicted in open court proceedings, where victims and their families would possibly have been entitled to be present and participate.

"It also stands to reason that qualifying persons who apply for a pardon would have been sentenced by a court, taking into account all relevant circumstances, including the interests of a victim of the crime.

The pardons would be the culmination of a process initiated by former president Thabo Mbeki in 2007 for prisoners serving time for politically motivated crimes committed before 16 June 1999.

People denied amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission could not apply.

The seven AWB members, jailed for eight years for assaulting black municipal workers in Kuruman in the Northern Cape in 1995, began serving their sentences in 2006 and were among those who had applied for political pardons.

Their application to intervene was not opposed by counsel for the coalition.

The Khulumani group ? formed to support the victims and families of the Kuruman violence ? said the AWB members were trying to subvert the course of justice by intervening in the application.

A small group of supporters from the Ekurhuleni branch stood outside the court holding banners.

National co-ordinator Tshepo Madlingozi said those that had applied for pardons had shown no remorse.

This was in contrast to those who applied to the TRC for pardons.

"What they are doing is to subvert the court process. They are not showing any change of heart."

Another Khulumani member, Noma Russia Bonase, said the process in its current form violated the rights of the victims.

"According to us, they are not recognising us as victims. We are saying to the government that we are not happy."

In an earlier ruling the Supreme Court of Appeal described the AWB men's actions as "an unashamed racist attack" that randomly targeted black people and "incited terror among the black citizens of Kuruman".

The seven men formed part of about 120 prisoners who were recommended by a multi-party task team for pardons. This was out of a group of about 2300 who had applied.