Magistrate ‘dating’ taxi body chairman refuses to recuse herself

Taxi operator takes his fight to the high court

A Limpopo taxi boss has approached the Limpopo High Court in Polokwane to obtain a court order to force a magistrate presiding over his case against his taxi association to recuse herself because she is allegedly the girlfriend of the organisation’s chairperson.

Moloke Mathews Maisela, who has been a taxi operator since 1997, took the Nebo Taxi Association to the Nebo Magistrate’s Court to challenge his expulsion from the organisation in 2022.

When the matter was enrolled on the court roll, magistrate SI Modika of the Nebo Magistrate’s Court allegedly assigned herself the case.

Maisela, however, found out that Modika was the girlfriend of Mphoke Dennis Mailula, the chairperson of the Nebo Taxi Association and the respondent in the case.

A week before the matter between him and Mailula was due to be heard in court on March 12, he instructed his legal team, led by Advocate Jerry Koma, to apply for Modika’s recusal because “I had information that she [Modika] has since collected the file from the clerk of the court before it was even allocated to her.”

When she refused, Maisela filed papers in court, taking on Modika, Mailula and the taxi association, who are the first respondent, second respondent, and third respondent, respectively, for conflict of interest.

“There is constant communication between me [Maisela] and the third respondent, although such communication is not effective; hence, we only talk when we bump into each other. So, a week before our court date (March 12), when we bumped into each other at Moratiwa Shopping

Complex, I told him that I was going to instruct my legal team to apply for the recusal of the presiding officer, as I had information that she had since collected the file from the clerk of the court before it was even allocated to her,” Maisela said.

“In the morning of March 12, 2024, I met the third respondent when I arrived in court at Nebo shortly before the hearing of the matter, which was postponed, and he told me that he was with his girlfriend the previous night (March 11), and she showed him a court order that she was going to rule in his favour. I then asked him who his girlfriend was, who showed him a judgment before hearing the matter. “He said to me that the first respondent who is going to preside in our matter is his girlfriend, and she has already made an order in his favour. I did not believe the third respondent when he alleged that the first respondent is his girlfriend, and further, I did not believe him when he said that a court order was made a day before the hearing of the matter,” said Maisela.

“Indeed, I instructed my legal team to make an application for the recusal of the first respondent, which she refused.”

On March 12, Modika dismissed Maisela’s application for her recusal.

She presided over the matter between him and his association and postponed it to March 27 for a verdict.

Maisela believed that Modika committed a “gross irregularity” with her decision to dismiss his recusal application.

“The first respondent failed to follow the procedure, which is always followed where there is

Maisela says he believes Modika committed a gross irregularity

a conflict of interest in that she presided over this matter, while the third respondent is her boyfriend,” said Maisela.

Maisela said Modika’s decision to dismiss the recusal application is invalid and should be reviewed and set aside.

Speaking to Sunday World, Koma said Modika ignored their high court application and proceeded to preside over the matter, finding in favour of the association on March 27 even though she was served with the summons, stating that they were challenging her refusal to recuse herself in the high court due to a conflict of interest.

He said that Modika was required to either recuse herself or put the matter on hold pending the resolution of the high court application after receiving the summons.

“We are now going to court on an urgent basis to ask the court to stay her judgment pending the outcome of our application,” he said.