The court hearing the corruption case of former top cop Jackie Selebi was disrupted ón Tuesday morning when a woman screamed and removed her clothes in protest against her husband's murder case.

The woman, dressed in a black jacket and black head scarf, sat quietly for over an hour before proceedings in the High Court in Johannesburg started.

Once the matter got underway, she pulled out a banner covered in Aids ribbons and pictures of women blowing trumpets.

The woman then screamed that she wanted prosecutor Gerrie Nel to tell her when the case — where she appears to be accused of the murder — would get underway, saying it had been ten years since the event.

Eventually court officials tried to remove her from the court, but as they pulled her away she wrenched her clothing off, breaking the buttons of her jacket and taking off her shoes, leaving her in a black slip and stockings as she sat on the floor.

'Ellen' states her case

Before she was taken out of the courtroom, the woman identified herself as "Ellen".

"I propose and ask everyone in this room to give me an ear… I am in prison for ten years. My husband was killed. Mr Gerrie Nel is not bringing my case to court," said the woman while gesturing wildly.

"They say I have blood on my hands," she said, adding that she believed her husband's killers were free.

She said she was not allowed to work and was in "financial prison".

As officials tried to remove her, she shouted hysterically, "Pick me up if you want to, kill me if you want to, let me talk, let me talk…

"If I have to die today like my husband take a gun and shoot me. You tell me how my matter is going to be addressed… I am asking to be killed if my matter is not to be addressed…

"What must I do now… I'm a prisoner. Yes, Mr Selebi. Let them take the money Mr Selebi has stolen from the drug lords and use it."

She then told the court she wanted Nel to bring Investec to court.

"Investec must bring all the widows' money and they must stop sponsoring rugby with all these widows' money."

Once dragged outside court, she refused to take her clothing and carried on talking in a distressed manner to court officials.

Back to normality

When court proceeding resumed, counsel informed the judge the matter was unrelated to the Selebi matter.

The court heard that the state security ministry wanted to apply for leave to appeal a decision compelling an ex-intelligence official to testify in Selebi's case.

"I am instructed to apply for leave to appeal against the judgment," said the ministry's lawyer Marumo Moerane.

"M'lord, the appeal if granted will be to the Supreme Court of Appeal."

Moerane explained the reasons behind the request for leave to appeal.

Last week Judge Meyer Joffe heard arguments about an application by the ministry to have ex-intelligence co-ordinator Barry Gilder exempt from testifying to protect sensitive information.

The judge then ordered that Gilder give his testimony in camera. After the court was cleared for him to take the stand, Moerane told the court he would need to take further instruction from Minister Siyabonga Cwele about the decision.

Gilder was summoned by the State to testify about a 2005 draft intelligence report which contains one paragraph about allegedly untoward payments Selebi was receiving from slain mining magnate Brett Kebble. The claim in the draft document was apparently made by businessman Jurgen Kogl.

Selebi is facing a count of corruption and another of defeating the ends of justice in connection with at least R1.2-million he allegedly received from convicted drug trafficker Glenn Agliotti and others in return for favours.

Read more from the Selebi trial...

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