Judge’s secretary gives evidence

FORMER KwaZuluNatal Judge President Chiman Patel’s secretary says the woman who accused him of crimen injuria after he reprimanded her in his chambers in 2013, had screamed at and embarrassed her that day.

“I was shocked and I was hurt,” soft-spoken Devika Morar told the Durban High Court yesterday.

Morar, who worked as Patel’s secretary for more than five years, was giving evidence in his civil trial.

In 2013, Patel was accused of crimen injuria after reprimanding a court clerk, Lindiwe Nxele, who claimed he had pointed his finger at her and called her “nonsense, trash, rubbish and useless”. A year later, he was served with a summons, but on the day his trial was supposed to start, the charges against him were withdrawn.

Patel is now suing the State for R3 million, for malicious prosecution. As per her version of events, on the day of the incident Morar phoned human resources to enquire about stationery she had requisitioned two weeks earlier. She spoke to one of Nxele’s colleagues, Zamile Mkhize, who advised her that Nxele was responsible for stationery.

“A short while later, I received a call from Lindiwe,” Morar told the court.

Nxele told her the stationery had been awaiting collection in the accounts office since “that” Friday.

“I said that she should, at least, have had the courtesy to inform me that it was there,” Morar said, “And then I don’t know what happened. She started screaming at me and told me I was the only one who had a problem with stationery, which I denied.”

Morar described Nxele’s tone as “very angry”. “Her voice was very raised.

She was very abrupt with me,” she said, “I had two attorneys in my office and I told her I didn’t want to continue with the conversation.”

She suspected the two attorneys had heard someone screaming on the other end of the telephone, although she doubted they had heard what she was saying.

Afterwards, Morar went to Patel’s office and told him what had happened.

“I was very emotional, I was embarrassed and I was upset,” she told the court.

Her evidence thereafter corroborated Patel’s, which the court heard on Monday. She said he summoned Nxele, along with court manager Karlien Marais, to his office and that during the course of events, he asked why he had to deal with “this sort of rubbish”.

“Immediately, Ms Nxele interjected and asked Judge Patel if he was calling her a rubbish,” Morar said. “He said he was not referring to her.”

Asked by Patel’s advocate, Richard Salmon, if it would be accurate to say Patel had raised his voice to Nxele, Morar said no.

“Judge Patel is generally a loud person. He was loud and clear in what he asked… His voice wasn’t raised,” she said.

The matter is continuing today.