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After confidentially reviewing bank records, the Western Cape High Court ordered the Moslem Cemetery Board to pay R250 000 into an attorney trust account for the Independent Panel, election costs and the incoming board’s transition.
By ANWAR OMAR
The Western Cape High Court has directed the Moslem Cemetery Board to pay R250,000 into the trust account of an attorney serving on the court-appointed Independent Panel, in directives issued on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, reflecting the first concrete outcome of the confidential “judicial peep” into the Board’s bank statements ordered a day earlier.
Judge Gayaat da Silva Salie’s directives follow directly from her judgment of August 4, which dismissed Dr Tolgah Bassier’s application for copies of the Board’s bank statements but ordered those records to be delivered to the Registrar for the court’s confidential review. Having now reviewed those records, the judge has moved swiftly to put a funding mechanism in place for the Board’s upcoming election.
The order
The Board has been directed to pay R250,000 into the trust account of RKP Attorneys Inc, administered by Ms Rehana Khan Parker, an attorney member of the Independent Panel, by 4pm on Friday, August 7, 2026. The Board must obtain the relevant banking details directly from Ms Khan Parker or her firm.
The funds are to be ring-fenced strictly for implementing the court’s judgment and directives for the reasonable remuneration and expenses of the Independent Panel, and the costs of running the election process and facilitating the incoming board’s assumption of office.
The directive also builds in an accountability mechanism. Within 21 days of the new governing body taking office, Ms Khan Parker must furnish the Board with a full reconciliation of the trust account, reflecting every receipt and disbursement, backed by supporting vouchers or accounting records. Any unused balance must be refunded to the Board at that point.
The judgment’s reasoning and its timeline
The directives bear out what Wednesday’s judgment had signalled was coming. In paragraph 30, the judge indicated that after reviewing the banking records privately, she would determine “whether a further Directive should be issued regulating the provision and safekeeping of funds required for the implementation of the election process,” specifically flagging the possibility of directing payment into a Panel attorney’s trust account. That is precisely what the judge has now ordered.
The speed of the directives issued the day after judgment, with payment due within 48 hours, underscores the court’s stated urgency given the SGM and election set down for August 23, 2026.
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What has not been disclosed to parties
Notably, the directives do not reveal what the confidential bank statements actually showed, nor explain how the R250,000 figure was derived. Consistent with the judgment’s assurance that the reviewed statements “will not be available to the parties,” neither Dr Bassier nor the Board’s own financial position as revealed in the records the court examined has been placed on the record. The figure appears to represent the court’s own assessment of what is “reasonably required” for the Panel’s remuneration and the election’s logistical and technological costs, a determination made unilaterally following the confidential inspection.
That ambiguity is likely to exacerbate, rather than resolve, questions already raised about the “judicial peep” process, including why a sum with real financial consequence for the Board – an association whose funds are ultimately drawn from its membership and the broader community it serves – has been fixed without either party seeing the underlying figures or having an opportunity to make submissions on the amount.
The way forward
With payment due by Friday and a reconciliation of the trust account only due 21 days after the new board takes office, the Board’s finances will now run through a trust account administered by an attorney who serves on the Panel for the duration of the election process. Nominations for the 11-member board close August 11, with a shortlist published by August 18 ahead of the August 23 election at the Castle of Good Hope.
Judge Gayaat da Silva Salie’s directive can be read here.
- This article was updated on Aug 7, 2026 at 11:43 to include the Judge’s court order.
