KwaSizabantu Mission leaders have walked out of a CRL Right Commission hearing into alleged abuses at the mission.
Acting on behalf of the mission, advocate Keith Matthee, maintained that the CRL Right Commission would not give KwaSizabantu a fair hearing and said the chairperson, Professor David Mosoma, should recuse himself.
The commission and KwaSizabantu representatives butted heads over comments Mosoma made in the media.
These comments were the "nail in the coffin" for KwaSizabantu. Matthee said the mission believed that the commission was not impartial.
In response, the commission assured them that they were impartial and added that "[our] primary responsibility is to promote and protect."
After Mosoma refused to recuse himself, the mission said they would consider their options and inform the commission of their decision in writing.
"We have a profound problem with how, starting from Friday and culminating in your interview yesterday, how this Chapter 9 institution has conducted itself in the present matter.
"At this stage, it is our view that what has transpired particularly in this [media] interview, amounts to misconduct in terms of the act, which can have further consequences for the commissioner," Matthee said.
Mosoma replied: "We were giving you an opportunity today, given the fact that this particular issue is in the public domain, for you to tell South Africa - what the witnesses told South Africa - about what happened there."
"You have the right to postpone this, you can postpone this, but remember, the issue of rape, the president said, is a pandemic. It's intolerable," Mosoma added, referring to some of the allegations..
More to follow.
Do you want to know more about this topic? Sign up for one of News24's 33 newsletters to receive the information you want in your inbox. Special newsletters are available to subscribers.