Lobby group Afriforum says it will be assisting the two men convicted for the murder of Coligny teenager Matlhomola Moshoeu in approaching the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein.
This follows the North West High Court's decision to deny Pieter Doorewaard, 28, and Phillip Schutte, 35, leave to appeal on Thursday, Netwerk24 reported.
"This decision does not come as a surprise because we knew that it would be hard for the specific judge to acknowledge that he made serious mistakes in his ruling," Afriforum CEO Kallie Kriel told News24.
Afriforum had stepped in to help pay legal costs for the two men after believing that the State's only eyewitness in the case lied in court.
Kriel said the the appeal process was not directly driven by Afriforum but by the duo's legal team which includes advocate Barry Roux.
The lobby group's advocate Gerrie Nel and Afriforum's private prosecution unit are providing support in the investigation.
"He [Barry Roux] is now going to petition the appeal court in Bloemfontein for permission to appeal. We believe there is a strong case," Kriel said.
He said they have enough evidence that the State witness admitted to lying in court when he testified to seeing Doorewaard and Schutte on the day 16-year-old Mosheou died.
Kriel said they were therefore confident that an appeal to the SCA would be successful.
He said the parties would be filing the appeal within 21 days.
"We are confident that they are not guilty and we believe that there is enough evidence that they are not guilty. I think it's time that the judge should take a look at this," said Kriel.
The State said it was happy with the court's decision to dismiss the appeal.
"It (appeal decision) is a correct decision. We have always believed that holistically we presented a good case," said prosecutor Rapula Molefe.
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