Judge Maumela’s ill health puts conduct case on hold

THE Judicial Conduct Tribunal hearing looking into the conduct of suspended Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, Judge Tshifhiwa Maumela has been postponed after he was admitted to hospital due to ill health.

The hearing, chaired by retired Judge Chris Jafta, is scheduled to look into Judge Maumela’s failure to deliver numerous reserved judgments within a reasonable time.

The hearing kicked off on Monday and was scheduled to proceed until March 22.

Maumela was suspended in June 2023 by President Cyril Ramaphosa alongside Judge Nomonde Mngqibisa-Thusi, who was taken to task for failure to deliver as many as 21 judgments.

Mngqibisa-Thusi’s hearing was held during December.

However, it was held in camera as the judge’s legal team raised concerns that if the hearing were to be held in public it would compromise the testimony of witnesses in her defence who were expected to talk about her personal problems.

As the proceedings were due to resume yesterday, Maumela’s legal team informed Judge Jafta that he had been admitted to hospital.

They requested that the tribunal’s proceedings be postponed to a date when he would be able to attend in person.

They indicated that they would also like to move an application to have proceedings moved to a date agreed upon.

The judge’s health also took centre stage in June 2023. He was presiding over the Meyiwa murder trial which had been plagued by numerous postponements.

It experienced further delays after the judge was also hospitalised.

Gauteng Deputy Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba reported at the time that Maumela was not available due to ill health and may not be available for a long time subject to the diagnosis of his doctors.

During the first sitting of the tribunal on Monday, Judge President Mlambo told the court how he believed that Maumela had not done much of the “heavy lifting” when his work was compared to other judges throughout the years.

Judge Jafta set May 27 as a holding date for the hearings to proceed.