Time’s up for drunk judge
South Africans will finally learn what steps will be taken next – if any – against retired Judge Nkola Motata when Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng makes his announcement today.
In April 2018, chairperson of Motata’s judicial conduct tribunal. KwaZulu-Natal Judge President Achmat Jappie recommended to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) “the provisions of section 177(l)(a) of the constitution be invoked”.
The section declares a judge may be removed from office only if the commission finds that the judge suffers from an incapacity, is grossly incompetent or is guilty of gross misconduct.
The tribunal noted Motata’s conduct at the scene of his 2007 car accident and the remarks he made were “racist and thus impinge on and are prejudicial to the impartiality and dignity of the courts”.
“Similarly, the lack of integrity in the manner in which Judge Motata allowed his defence to be conducted at his trial, in our view, is incompatible with or unbecoming of the holding of judicial office,” Jappie noted.
For Richard Baird, who took cellphone recordings at the scene, Motata’s “dishonest defence” was frustrating.
“At a stage of my cross examination, the defence asserted that ‘if Judge Motata was to give evidence, he would state that he was not drunk’. This was a false statement which was not corrected by Motata at any stage during the very lengthy drink driving trial.
“It was made with the intent to mislead the trial court. Such unethical behaviour, lacking in truthfulness and integrity, is gross misconduct for an officer of the court, and even worse for a judicial officer.”
Baird said Motata’s dishonesty brought the judiciary into disrepute.
“The trial did not include a racism charge which was very evident from the audio transcript,” Baird said.
Since the trial, there has been little from the JSC, despite a stinging rebuke from Justice Dhaya Pillay of the High Court in Johannesburg in 2016. “The events occurred in 2007. Nine years later, the matter has not been finalised. It is in the interests of justice that this matter be brought to finality,” Pillay said.