[ad_1]
The real signal that came out in Dali Mpofu’s outburst of ‘shut up’ in the Zondo Commission is not that it is open season for defenders or witnesses in a judicial commission of inquiry or that the vice president of the Supreme Court himself can be told ‘such Maybe we should go ‘because the defender does not like being told to sit down, but that it is an open season in the judiciary and in the judicial process itself.
Lawyers are argumentative, combative, abrasive.
In private, at the dinner table, they say “shut up” all the time.
The hearings at the Zondo Commission on March 23, 2021 were not private, nor a table for dinner.
A acting cabinet minister, Pravin Gordhan, gave a statement in one of the most crucial legal processes in the history of our country, the “Judicial Investigation Commission to Investigate Allegations of State Capture, Corruption and Fraud in the Public Sector , including the State Organs ”(To use its formal title).
It was led by his attorney, Michelle le Roux, a formidable advocate who was recommended by the Johannesburg Defenders Society to the presiding judge for senior adviser status.
I was asking Mr. Gordhan how it feels to be labeled “racist”, given his fighting credentials which include torture, detention and a story on uMkhonto weSizwe.
She was interrupted by attorney Dali Mpofu SC, himself a Silk who has enjoyed a stellar career with the Bar Association and serves as one of the representatives of the General Council of the South African Bar Association before the Judicial Service Commission, that it recommends the appointment of judges and that it is responsible for disciplining them if necessary.
What followed was an extraordinary series of exchanges …
Gordhan asked to intervene briefly, apparently to try to shorten the procedures.
Mr. Mpofu objects to this.
Ms Le Roux interrupts him saying, “May I briefly explain the question?”
To which, more importantly, the Vice President of the Supreme Court says “Okay.”
Mr. Mpofu was obviously irritated and said: “President, I am on the floor. I really can’t take this. This cannot be happening for the third time. Miss Le Roux must be silent when I am speaking. “
Audible gasps, even screams, can be clearly heard in the video footage showing Mr. Gordhan with his mouth open. He says, “Yoh, yoh” in response to Mr. Mpofu’s outburst.
Mr Mpofu turns to him “You too, shut up.”
This is when the Chairman of the Commission, the Vice President of the Supreme Court, Raymond Zondo, tries to reassert control of the courtroom and asks Mr. Mpofu to sit down.
Mr. Mpofu challenges him: “But why should I sit down?”
Zondo DCJ: “Because here I am in charge and I say they sit down.”
Mr. Mpofu then engages in a heated exchange with the DCJ saying, “Maybe we should go …”
The DCJ interrupts him and tells him that he wants to hear Ms. Le Roux’s explanation of the question she is asking her witness first and then will let Mr. Mpofu object. “No, no,” says Mr. Mpofu.
As one wit has put it: “Talk about putting the ‘cross’ back on cross-examination!”
Besides the gripping television, is this outburst important?
Is.
Why? Because our courts and our judicial officials are under attack, in particular by the RET faction of the ANC and by the EFF, of which Mr. Mpofu is, of course, a member and former president.
Lawyers interrupt each other on oral arguments all the time; it is part of what lawyers do. Objections and counter-objections are common in the courts and a good judicial officer knows how to control them to avoid deviating procedures.
What we saw yesterday was not that: telling a colleague to “shut up”, telling a witness to “shut up” and threatening to get out of a legal process is not normal. And it is not good.
In my opinion, Mr. Mpofu did not comply with the Code of Conduct for all Legal Professionals prescribed by the Council of Legal Practice and which entered into force in March 2019. Part VI of the Code of Conduct deals with the conduct of legal professionals in court appearances and before any court that performs a judicial, quasi-judicial or administrative function.
Article 61 is entitled “Professional etiquette”. It requires an attorney to “deal with the judicial officer … and with all other persons in court with courtesy and respect.” Furthermore, it obliges legal professionals “not to allow any feeling of ill will between … legal professionals to interfere with the civil and professional conduct of the matter” and to “now allow any antipathy that may exist between the lawyer and the lawyer. opposing attorney, practitioners personally to interfere in the conduct of the matter. “
But perhaps more important than the violations of the so-called “black letter of the law” is what these violations signal politically.
Don’t get your hopes up …
Mr. Mpofu’s supporters are quick to say “but she cut her objection” and, my personal favorite, “she was cheeky.” Others, including myself, have pointed to the misogyny of Mr. Mpofu’s insistence that Ms. Le Roux keep quiet. Such is the tedium of taking sides in a personal dispute between defenders.
But the real signal that came out is not that it is an open season for women defenders, or for witnesses in a Judicial Investigation Commission, or that the vice president of the Supreme Court himself can be told “maybe we should go” because the defender does not like it. You will be told how you feel, but that it is open season in the judiciary and in the judicial process itself.
This is not new. It is part of a rising tide, a pattern of disrespect for the courts and, indeed, our own constitutional fabric. We have seen it in the complaints about the repeated court rulings on the conduct of the Public Protector and, most prominently, in the indifference of former President Jacob Zuma towards the Zondo Commission that resulted in the March 25 hearing in the Constitutional Court on his alleged contempt of court.
Those who would defend our democracy (the rallying cry of those who oppose these attacks) would do well to heed the dispute that took place yesterday. It was a battle cry all by itself. DM
Justine Limpitlaw is a Legal Consultant and Visiting Associate Professor at the LINK Center at the University of the Witwatersrand.
