The high court in Pretoria reserved judgment on Tuesday on a court bid to interdict President Kgalema Motlanthe from granting over 100 pardons for politically motivated apartheid era crimes.

Just after 6pm Judge Willie Serici said that due to time constraints he would probably only be able to hand down judgment at the end of next week.

The application for an interim interdict was brought by a coalition of civil society organisations.

One of the key issues is that former president Thabo Mbeki when announcing the special dispensation process, made an undertaking in 2007, that the principles of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission would guide the process.

During the TRC hearings victims and their families had been afforded the right to make representations.

The coalition argues that the same right should be granted to the victims in the special dispensation process.

The pardons would be the culmination of a process initiated by Mbeki for prisoners serving time for politically motivated crime before 16 June 1999.

People denied amnesty at the TRC could not apply.

Lawyers for Motlanthe have argued that Mbeki's undertaking was merely that the principles would be guided by the TRC.

However this was not a contract but a political statement and therefore it would not be unlawful for the victims to be denied the right to make representations.

The coalition's request

Counsel for the coalition Geoff Budlender, asked the court earlier on Tuesday to "freeze" the process until clarity on whether victims or their families had the right to make representations could be sought.

Arguing on behalf of Motlanthe and the justice department, Marumo Moerane argued that Motlanthe had the constitutional mandate to listen to the special pardons reference group ? made up solely of political parties in Parliament ? then make an independent decision, nothing more.

"The powers of the president are wide and unqualified... His discretion is unfettered."

There was also no requirement stipulating he had to hear representations from the victims or their families, he said.

The legal teams also debated the origin of the special dispensation and how it related to the TRC proceedings.

Budlender argued it was designed to complete the unfinished business of the TRC, which had run its course, and therefore, as had been the case in the TRC hearings, the victims should be allowed to make representations.

However, Moerane countered that it was in fact an entirely separate process and therefore governed by a different set of guidelines.

The new process

"Those processes had run its course, you cannot revert to the TRC processes because it had run its course... This was a special process that the [then] president [Thabo Mbeki] decided on... You cannot suddenly inject new life into the TRC process."

Moerane said Motlanthe was bound to make his decisions on granting pardons flexibly, decisively and in a speedy manner.

"Nobody can fault him. There's nothing illegal, wrong or irrational. It is important and it is urgent that the president does what he is mandated to do without delay," he said.

The application was causing further delay.

Legal counsel for seven members of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB), who will be arguing alongside the State, also presented arguments before the court.

The men, jailed for assaulting black municipal workers in Kuruman in the Northern Cape in 1995, began serving their sentences in 2006.

The Khulumani support group was formed to show support for the victims of Kuruman.

The seven are among the about 120 prisoners who were recommended by the reference group for pardons.

Around 2114 people applied.