Advocate refuses to say sorry
• Acting judge to step down after lashing government
An acting Johannesburg high court judge has agreed to step down from the bench after posting expletive-laden comments about “Cyril and his goons” on Facebook — in apparent criticism of the government’s recent shutdown measures.
Nathi Mncube, spokesperson for the office of the chief justice, told Business Day on Sunday that, after being made aware of advocate Gillian Benson’s Facebook posts, Gauteng judge president Dunstan Mlambo had “immediately discussed the matter with her and both agreed that it will be in the best interest of all concerned to have her acting appointment revoked”.
“Consequently she will not be returning to act on 8 June 2020,” Mncube said.
Benson, however, is adamant that she will not apologise for her recently deleted “F***k you South Africa. F***k you” post.
“I will not apologise for expressing my own view and will continue to do so,” she wrote in a three-page statement to Business Day.
“The choice of adjectives and nouns that I chose may have been unfortunate, but when an irrational regulation with no basis whatsoever and clearly with no thought as to the best interests of parents and children hinders my contact with my own child, I will remain upset and deeply so. Criticism of choice of language should not be used as a tool to stifle dissent.”
In response to a comment on her now deleted Facebook post, in which one of her contacts stated “oh yes, and it will only get worse”, Benson replied: “Ya. But after I said F***k you SA, I had people messaging me to ask why I’m angry. Hahahahaha. And still we love Cyril and his goons.”
JUDICIAL IMPARTIALITY
Benson has stressed that her comments should not be read as indicative of any potential antigovernment bias in her decision-making as an acting judge.
“Firstly, my last acting stint was in February 2020. At no stage did I hear any matter for the state, but even if I had, I would have exercised my judicial impartiality as I have done with all matters that I have dealt with,” she said.
“Judicial officers are human beings and are entitled to their opinion, however strong they may be, but this does not mean that having an opinion makes one unable to adjudicate a matter judiciously,” she said.
“You may recall that even our chief justice of SA, Mogoeng Mogoeng, expressed his strong belief in his religion, and this certainly did not disqualify him from sitting as head of our apex court. No-one can fairly say that he has been unable to carry out his judicial functions as chief justice.”
Benson says her criticism of the government’s shutdown regulations is not unique and argues that current and former ministers, judges and other senior advocates have raised serious questions about their legality and rationality.
According to Benson, “the current lockdown has caused great angst for individuals such as myself, in our personal lives and beyond”.
“In addition to the stress which the lockdown has caused many citizens, there have been senseless regulations drafted, which continue to affect parents like me who are in the midst of divorce proceedings. We require permits to travel with children between parents but can take them to busy malls without permits, for instance,” she said.
Benson said the latest amendment provided that these permits were required. “But magistrates refuse to issue them on a daily basis. This has affected not only me, but many of my clients. This is but one of many examples of our regulations which are illogical, irrational and inexplicable but gazetted with seemingly no foresight to the effect that they might have on the general populace,” she said.
“We cannot buy open-toe shoes, but we can buy a new canary. If that does not justify some form of criticism, from me and every other citizen in our private capacities, then I simply do not know what has become of our democracy and our entrenched right to freedom of speech, among other rights.”