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Western Cape Judge Vice President Patricia Goliath, left, and Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe. (Photos: judgesmatter.co.za / | Gallo Images / Foto24 / Mary-Ann Palmer)
An investigation by the Judicial Inspectorate of Correctional Services has found that reports of an alleged planned murder of Western Cape Vice President Patricia Goliath cannot be ruled out and warrant further investigation.
Friday, November 4 Ground published that a higher judge had been implicated in an alleged plot to assassinate Goliath by one of the prisoners.
A report, completed by the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services (JICS), and appointing the Chief Justice of the Western Cape, John Hlophe, has been sent to Justice Minister Ronald Lamola and the Office of the Chief Justice.
Lamola spokesperson Chrispin Phiri responding to questions from Daily maverick He said that “the Ministry at this stage is not aware of such a report. Most importantly, if anyone in society has knowledge of a crime, we must bring that information to the attention of the South African police services urgently. “
Answering the questions of the Daily Maverick, Goliath said that, as a judge, she was limited to dealing with the press.
However, she did confirm that on June 3, 2020, she had been contacted by members of the Grahamstown Bar, whom she did not know at the time, and informed her that an inmate had called the office and informed them that a “coup had occurred. “. been put into Goliath’s life by another judge.
Members of the bar relayed the call to a Grahamstown Superior Court judge, who suggested that they contact Goliath immediately. That same day, he informed the Office of the President of the Supreme Court about the alleged threat.
Additional security measures were put in place immediately.
Goliath confirmed that he had received two reports from JICS related to the “matter”, but would not make them public or discuss the content.
After Goliath reported the threats, JICS was tasked with investigating them and interviewing two prisoners.
The JICS report exposes how a prisoner awaiting trial in Pietermaritzburg had been present in a cell when another prisoner received a call, allegedly recruiting him into a death squad to eliminate Patricia Goliath.
The report says that the prisoner, when questioned during the JICS investigation, responded that the potential hitman had told him that the caller had named a third party who had allegedly ordered the attack on Hlophe’s behalf.
The information in the report is that a sum of R3 million had been promised and although the planned coup was canceled, the would-be assassins demanded payment and were paid R200,000.
The report found that there was no motivation for the prisoners to make up such a complicated story and that they had stuck to it during questioning. There was also no evidence or a history, according to the report, of mental illness in either of them.
The report found there was “no basis to dismiss” the allegation and that it was serious enough to warrant further investigation.
Daily Maverick’s communication with JICS, requesting confirmation of the reports, had not been responded to at the time of this writing.
Attempts to Daily maverick For comments from Nathi Mncube, spokesperson for the Office of the Chief Justice, they have been unsuccessful so far.
Daily maverick it has offered Chief Justice Hlophe the right to answer the serious allegations. At the time of publication, he had not yet responded. As soon as we receive such a response, we will post it.
This is a developing story. DM
