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TKAG chairman Jonathan Deal said late on Friday that the group, that opposes plans by large oil companies to search for shale gas deposits in the ecologically sensitive Karoo region, had originally applied for such information last October, but either the minister or the Department of Mineral Resources had missed all the deadlines.

"We expect a department legal representative to appear before the court on Monday to ask for an extension, considering they have missed all the deadlines so far, or just ignored them," he said.

Deal said that the TKAG wanted to know who was on the task team set up by Shabangu, if it included representatives from the oil companies, what documents it was perusing, what information it had gathered, if it had visited fracking sites in other countries and what were its terms of reference.

Zingaphi Jakuja, a spokesperson for the Department of Mineral Resources said that she was not aware of Monday's court application.

"As far as I am aware our legal department has not informed us about it," she said.

Jakuja said the minister and the department had engaged with the TKAG on all these issues and in her opinion the court action was designed to embarrass Shabangu.

The formation of the task team was announced in May 2011 shortly after the moratorium on fracking in the Karoo was imposed. The moratorium was extended in August and was now due to expire in February.

In reply to a Parliamentary question by Democratic Alliance shadow mineral resources minister Gareth Morgan, Shabangu said the names of the task team could not be revealed as it may interfere with their mandate.

Morgan said on Friday that the risk of keeping the names of the task team and its terms of reference secret was that it would discredit the process irrespective of a decision.

"I don't see why it should be secret. In fact, the minister should welcome robust debate around the issue. We don't really even know why the moratorium was imposed," he said.

Morgan said his impression was that the department had been overwhelmed by the number of requests for hydraulic fracking and that it wanted to slow things down.

"The danger is that the moratorium would be used as an excuse that the minster did apply her mind, irrespective of the decision," he said.

Deal said he expected the moratorium to be lifted in February.

Three major oil companies have applied for permission to use hydraulic fracking in the Karoo. They are Shell, Bundu Oil & gas and Falcon Oil & Gas.

Fracking involves the use of up to a million litres of water to fracture the rock, and chemicals are then pumped in to create a gel that forces the shale gas to flow. The chemical compound makes up 1% of the total volume pumped into the wells.

On new year's eve four earthquakes in the US state of Ohio led to a suspension of fracking operations there.