Zondo slams police for arrest of Advocate Teffo inside courtroom
Chief Justice Raymond Zondo has branded the arrest of Advocate Malesela Teffo in a courtroom last week as an assault on the dignity of the court and the judiciary.
The Office of the Chief Justice released a statement on Tuesday evening slamming last week's arrest of Teffo in the High Court in Pretoria.
Teffo, who represents four of the accused in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial, was arrested shortly after the adjournment of court proceedings.
A group of heavily armed police officers waited for court proceedings to adjourn before swooping on him in full glare of the media.
The arrest is linked to his alleged failure to appear in court on a separate matter.
Police have come under fire for the manner in which the arrest was executed, although it insisted Teffo was aware that a warrant of arrest had been issued against him and that he failed to appear in court on several occasions.
But Zondo says the arrest of anybody, let alone a legal practitioner, inside a courtroom, is completely unacceptable and should not have happened.
“There was no justifiable reason why the SAPS could not have waited for Advocate Teffo to leave the courtroom and the court premises before they could arrest him. After all, as I understand the position, the warrant of arrest had been issued about two months earlier and waiting until Advocate Teffo had left the court premises would not have made any difference. Advocate Teffo was not going to spend the evening in the court room,” Zondo said in the statement.
Zondo also condemned the manner in which the police conducted the arrest.
“The conduct of the SAPS in effecting the arrest inside the Courtroom and the manner in which the arrest was effected on a legal practitioner and, therefore, on an officer of the court, was an assault on the dignity of the court and the judiciary. An officer of the court was arrested in a manner that was totally unacceptable and showed disrespect for the judiciary.
"Section 165(4) of the Constitution places an obligation on all organs of state, including the SAPS, through legislative and other measures, to ‘assist and protect the courts to ensure the independence, impartiality, dignity, accessibility and effectiveness of the courts'."
Zondo said while the statement doesn’t seek to defend Teffo’s arrest, only the manner in which it was conducted.
“It is about the place where the arrest was effected and the manner in which it was done.”
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