MR DU PLESSIS
Thank you Mr Chairman.  May I just for purposes of this hearing, for purposes of the record and perhaps for purposes of the public perception, explain the situation which I find myself in under the circumstances.
	I want to say, make the submission first of all that there exists between myself and my client, a privilege, namely a legal professional privilege.  That means that I am in a position as you will well know, where I cannot from a legal point of view, disclose to you the exact reasons and the facts which have given rise to the fact that I withdrew as Mr Bellingan's counsel.
	I want to mention that there were certain happenings which occurred since the previous hearing, which gave rise to the fact that I had decided to withdraw from the matter.  After those facts arose, I discussed the situation with my Instructing Attorney, Mr Britz of the firm Strydom Britz.  I discussed my position with him and he thereupon terminated my mandate.
	The facts which Mr Britz and I discussed pertaining to the reasons for the termination of my mandate, and the fact that I felt that there may have been reasons to withdraw from the matter, were not disclosed to Mr Nolte, who is sitting here on my right hand side.
	After Mr Britz and I decided under the circumstances, that we will not disclose those facts to Mr Nolte.  I had to make a decision last week, we had to make a decision last week if Mr Britz was going to terminate my mandate or not, and we had to make the decision as quickly as possible so as to enable somebody else to take over the matter, who would be in a position from an ethical point of view, to carry on with the matter.
	I believe it was I think Wednesday, last week, when I phoned Judge Potgieter's clerk after I had spoken to Mr Trengove to obtain his permission to speak to Judge Potgieter, to discuss the matter with him, and to find out from him if there would be any problem for me to arrange my withdrawal from the matter without it being necessary for me to appear this morning to do it formally.
	His Secretary came back to me and indicated that that shouldn't be a problem.  After my discussion with Mr Trengove just before that discussion with Judge Potgieter's Secretary, he also gave to me an indication that that wouldn't be a problem, and I also subsequently discussed my position with Mr Wagener.
	Although I may say that the specific facts pertaining to my position, I did not disclose in any sort of detail to either Mr Wagener or Mr Trengove.
	I may mention one further thing which gave rise to my position and that is the nature of these proceedings and the position one finds yourself in as a legal representative in these proceedings.
	I may also mention and I wish to mention this, Mr Chairman, that the facts which gave rise to the situation, I want to give you the assurance here and now, are not in any way whatsoever attributable to Mr Bellingan in the sense that it relates to anything that he did to cause the situation.
	Mr Bellingan has at all relevant times insisted on having his amnesty application heard as soon as possible, and there were times during last year when he phoned me about twice a week and my Attorney too, to pressurise us to get the matter on the role and get the matter finalised.
	I may also mention without going into any sort of detail that the situation which arose last week, were caused by other parties apart from Mr Bellingan.  However, it placed me in a position that I had no alternative than to take the matter up with Mr Britz, whereupon my mandate was terminated.
	I hope you understand that under the circumstances with reference to the legal professional privilege existing between myself and my client, Mr Bellingan, that I cannot disclose the facts which gave rise to my position and obviously although contrary view may be taken by my learned friends opposite this room, and in so far as I am allowed, I wish to make the submission that this should not be held against Mr Bellingan in any way whatsoever and that no deduction should be made because of this situation.
	I don't know if there are any questions from you Mr Chairman, pertaining to this.