Judges Matter, Justice Dept urge Malema to apologise for labelling magistrate 'incompetent'

Malema made the comment on Thursday last week while addressing the EFF supporters outside the East London Magistrate's Court - shortly after the denial of his application to have the case struck off the roll.

Malema is accused of firing a rifle which was handed to him by his co-accused, Adriaan Snyman, during the EFF's birthday celebrations at Mdantsane's Sisa Dukashe Stadium in 2018.

In September, Malema's legal team brought an application to have the charges dismissed due to what they called a lack of substantial evidence.

On Thursday, Magistrate Twanet Olivier dismissed the two accused’s application to withdraw all charges against them due to lack of evidence.

Malema accused Olivier of incompetence and delivering a "sponsored judgment”.

Researcher at Judges Matter, Mbekezeli Benjamin, says while Malema’s comments would not be acceptable coming from anyone, they are even more damaging coming from someone of his stature.

"Mr Malema, as a Member of Parliament, has sworn an oath to protect and promote the Constitution. He has a legal, ethical and constitutional duty, in terms of section 165(4) of the Constitution, to take all measures to protect the judiciary. Furthermore, section 165(3) prohibits anyone, through their words or actions, from interfering with the judiciary in any way.

“Although judicial officers are not beyond any criticism, such criticism must be substantiated and measured.

“Because judicial ethics restrain judicial officers like Magistrate Olivier from challenging attacks such as Mr Malema’s comments, Judges Matter comes out strongly in defence of judicial independence.

“Left unchallenged, Mr Malema’s comments will send a chilling message to other judicial officers that they should not dare issue judgments against powerful figures who command a large audience," said Benjamin.

"We call on Mr Malema to immediately retract and apologise for his unfortunate comments.”

The Department of Justice described Malema's comment as “sensational conspiracy theories”.

"Whilst it is permissible to criticise and debate the reasoning of judicial officers' decisions, attacking their person and directing sensational conspiracy theories at judicial officers is not correct by anyone, let alone a member of the Judicial Services Commission,” said the department’s spokesperson Chrispin Phiri.

“We call upon all role players to ensure they uphold the independence of the judiciary by seeking accountability through established channels, not populist channels where no due process can be established. 

“It is common cause that where one believes there is questionable conduct by a judicial officer, complaints should be duly filed with the Judicial Services Commission or the Magistrates Commission, as the case may be.”

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