It’s insulting – Mlambo
GRILLING: CHIEF JUSTICE CANDIDATE ASKED ABOUT ‘SEXUAL HARASSMENT’
Judge defends his impartiality, saying he has no bias against Jacob Zuma.
Judge President of the Gauteng Division of the High Court Judge Dunstan Mlambo – one of four judges interviewed for the position of chief justice – firmly denied he had any bias towards President Cyril Ramaphosa or had been biased against former president Jacob Zuma.
According to Mlambo, people were entitled to their opinions, but he made judgments based on the facts. He said he had no problem with Zuma and did not harbour any favour for President Ramaphosa, as he valued his impartiality.
“It’s not my function as a judge to keep tallying to say ‘this administration won four times, so now they need to lose”, he said.
“I don’t do that. It’s completely unfortunate that there are people who are saying that I was unfair against the former president. I value my independence, my impartiality and my openmindedness.”
This after the Judicial Service Commission’s (JSC) Thandazani Madonsela noted a comment by Democracy in Action, which had previously been contested in support of Zuma and Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, who objected to Mlambo’s candidacy, in her both her personal and official capacity, and his ruling concerning the CR17 campaign funding matter.
Mlambo was asked whether any of those decisions in those cases had been overturned in higher courts. Mlambo said his decisions were upheld by the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court.
Mlambo added he was aware of this “undercurrent” [of opinion] but it was unfortunate people had a perception that his court had been unduly favourable to the current administration and had not been so much to the Zuma administration. He said the generalisations were “unfortunate and unfair”.
It become clear the gloves were coming off as panellists threw some hard-hitting questions at Mlambo regarding sexual harassment allegations against him.
Advocate Dali Mpofu, who raised concerns around the “whisperings”, asked Mlambo if there was any substance to these allegations and if there were any victims that would come out if he should be named the next chief justice.
Mlambo denied the allegations, saying: “There is no substance to that rumour and I think it is an insidious, poisonous rumour, there is actually no substance to it.”
EFF leader Julius Malema followed up on the question and said the complaints concerned acting female judges whom he had worked with.
Mlambo responded that the allegation was an insult to him and to the female judges he had appointed.
Deputy President of the Appeal Court Xola Petse announced that fairness should dictate that those rumours should be disregarded as there had been no formal complaint against Mlambo. He ruled that questions and answers around the allegations of sexual harassment be expunged from the record of interviewing.
Over the past 30 years, Mlambo distinguished himself as a legal authority and as a former chair of Legal Aid South Africa
In his address on the judiciary system, he said the South African judiciary was a functional judiciary that had lived up to the contents of the constitution.
But, Mlambo said, he found that the judiciary had to operate in a “somewhat toxic” environment.
“The judiciary is attacked on a number of fronts and has to function in a polarised political space,” he said.
Mlambo emphasised his concern about unfounded claims of corruption levelled against some members of the judiciary.
Mlambo said the judiciary was not corrupt but corruption does occur in terms of fraudulent court orders.
He said sometimes it would be found that a court order appeared proper but when investigated, that no such matter had been handled on that particular date.
Mlambo said the pillars of his vision included effective leadership, the embrace of innovation and court modernisation.
“It is critical we have a properly placed communications platform that enables us to be timeously responsive to attacks against us.”