‘Deeply offensive’: lawyer in hot water over Zindzi land tweet

A Johannesburg lawyer is staring down an investigation by the Legal Practice Council over an insensitive tweet about the death of Zindzi Mandela.

Marc Aupiais is alleged to have tweeted that Mandela – who was serving as SA’s ambassador to Denmark at the time of her death last week – “finally got her plot of land”, believed to be a veiled reference to her grave.

Mandela had been a vocal critic of the slow pace of land reform in SA and had been a staunch voice in support of calls for the appropriation of land without compensation.

Aupiais’s cyber-snipe was in response to a tweet by popular alt-right figure Willem Petzer, who has feverishly campaigned as an activist for what he perceives to be a “white genocide”.

Petzer tweeted: “Zindzi Mandela [59] just died in Johannesburg … do you guys remember her?” Aupiais’s riposte has since been deleted.

But not before it was immortalised by a screenshot and used as the basis for a complaint to the LPC, a governing body for the conduct of attorneys.

The complaint, signed by 29 aggrieved lawyers, accuses Aupiais of “potentially bringing the legal profession into disrepute”. “[This] owing to public comments he has made about the death of the late Ambassador Zindziswa Mandela. On 13 July 2020 on the social media platform, Twitter, Mr Aupiais replied to a tweet of Her Excellency’s passing with the comment ‘She finally got her plot of land?’.”

Repeated efforts to contact Aupiais were unsuccessful at the time of publishing. Attempts were made by phone, email and WhatsApp message.

The complaint details that the lawyer’s comments violate the values of human dignity and equality as enshrined in the constitution.

“Aupiais’ comments fall against the backdrop of current land debates, reform and policies in SA to address restoring dignity and land to many black South Africans that were deprived of such under Apartheid laws and policies. His comment that ‘she finally got her plot of land’ is not only disrespectful to the late ambassador, but is also an affront to the historical suffering of many South Africans and the project of bringing about social reform to ensure the democratic society.”

“His remarks sows division and are deeply offensive to many South Africans. It also brings the legal profession into disrepute,” the complaint reads.

According to his website, Aupiais has a “deep interest” in the law of SA, especially our constitutional and common law. “I consider myself a global citizen and keep connections in a number of different nations across the world. Communicating with people from other cultures, I believe, has aided me to have a more open-minded approach in so far as how I see, and interact with, the world,” it reads.

LPC spokesperson Sthembiso Mnisi said the complaint had been referred to a disciplinary panel.