National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi will stand trial on charges of corruption and defeating the ends of justice in the Johannesburg High Court next year.

Selebi appeared in the Randburg Regional Court on Thursday when the case was set down for trial from 14 April until 19 June 2009 by magistrate Lalitha Chetty. The proceedings will be conducted in English.

A human shield of plain clothes policemen surrounded Selebi as he entered the court and access in and out of the court was strictly controlled.

This sparked arguments between guards and journalists trying to cover the case, and members of the public hoping to catch a glimpse of Selebi, who appeared relaxed as he greeted friends in the front row of the court.

Selebi's legal team objected to a request for a postponement, charging that the State was merely trying to "buy time".

"We are not opposed to the trial date because we need a lot of time (to prepare)," defence counsel Jaap Celliers told the court.

"The concern we have is based on the fact that we are of the view the State will not be in a position to proceed with the trial in April and it will be postponed again."

He asked that the case be removed from the roll "to enable the State to prepare properly for trial", or be postponed for three weeks to enable both sides to revisit the Judge President and "get his assistance and ruling in this regard".

Celliers handed to the court a bundle of correspondence between the defence team and the State, which he claimed showed that the State had failed to respond to several requests for the docket in the case.

It had so far received only a preliminary docket, which it had been told might not contain all the evidence of all the witnesses the State intended calling during the trial.

In the absence of the docket, it had to be "presumed it is not ready, otherwise it would have been provided," Celliers contended. Celliers said the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) could have arranged a meeting with the Judge President sooner.

He directed the court to a report in City Press which, he said the defence team had read "with great concern".

He charged that it contained an accurate reflection of the correspondence between the NPA and police on the Selebi matter and appeared to have been leaked to the media by the NPA — a claim the NPA denied.

Celliers said the State appeared to still require vast numbers of documents which were crucial to the case, but which it was unable to obtain from the police.

The newspaper had reported that the police and NPA were engaged in an "ugly behind-the-scenes war" that could result in Selebi being let off the hook.

Selebi could not be prejudiced by the feud between the police and the Scorpions, Celliers told the court, in reference to the proposed merger of the Scorpions into the police.

"In this matter, the accused is not the SA Police Service (SAPS). He is an individual with rights."

He had the right to a speedy trial.

State prosecutor Gerrie Nel, however, maintained that the State was indeed trial ready.

"Yes we are ready. We will do things, but we will do things on the 14th of April."

He continued: "If there are delays we can go to the Judge President at any time. But we have to move this matter along."

Dismissing the defence objection, Chetty ruled that past experience had taught it could "become dangerous" to rely on media reporting in court.

This was not because there could be an incorrect representation of the facts, but because of the "risk of sensational reporting" inherent in media coverage.

She pointed out that it was up to the State to ensure its house was in order before day one of the trial.

She had been informed that both parties had agreed that the docket would be handed over after 4 July.

Chetty said both parties had been present in a meeting on the trial date with the Judge President and the defence could have raised any concerns there.

Should there be any "grave concerns" the relevant remedies were available to the defence in the trial court," she found.

Selebi first appeared in court on 1 February. The indictment presented alleged that the charges related to alleged payments made to him of about R1.2-million.

The State alleges that convicted drug trafficker Glenn Agliotti, murdered mining entrepreneur Brett Kebble, former Hyundai boss and mining entrepreneur Billy Rautenbach, and other "relevant corporate entities" benefited Selebi between 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2005.

Selebi's contract was extended by a year after a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday. However his post will continue to be held by acting police commissioner Tim Williams, pending the finalisation of this case.

Outside court after Thursday's hearing, NPA spokesperson Tlali Tlali said the NPA was "pleased" with the outcome and confident it would be ready for the trial next year. Selebi's legal team did not want to comment.

Sapa