Eastern Cape high court judge Mandela Makaula has issued a grovelling apology to Mthatha legal practitioners for publicly suggesting that they were untrustworthy.
His apology, he said, was necessary because he had painted the town’s entire legal community with the same brush without justification or evidence.
But, having withdrawn those unsubstantiated remarks, it is to be hoped that his other valid points about the Mthatha high court will not simply disappear into the ether.
His comments, made at his Judicial Service Commission interview for the position of deputy judge president based in Gqeberha, followed a telling question from chief justice Mandisa Maya.
She suggested to Makaula that he was applying to head a relatively well-run division in Gqeberha while “unfortunately”, Mthatha was different.
Maya should know. Like Makaula, Mthatha was once her home turf. It was where she read for her degree, served as a legal practitioner and later as a judge before being elevated to the Supreme Court of Appeal in 2006.
Makaula picked up his cue from her.
He pointed out that he had highlighted the problematic division in 2017 already. He said it was now worse and had become a thorn in the side of the province requiring a major “overhaul”, including the problematic registrar’s office.
Practitioners themselves have complained of the systemic corruption at the court, where they are allegedly expected to pay bribes to have their matters set down, to retrieve court files or to get some officials to do the jobs they are paid to do.
Maya, herself, bemoaned the state of that division earlier this year, saying an investigation was under way by her office and the SA Police Service, including its elite Hawks unit.
She also insisted on the introduction of the electronic court system there which, it was hoped, would reduce corrupt human interference in court processes.
But things are unlikely to get better without active human intervention and leadership.
And, as Makaula pointed out, judicial leadership in the Eastern Cape is in disarray.
Judge president Selby Mbenenge, who faces sexual harassment charges, has been at home on special leave for more than two years.
Mthatha deputy judge president Zamani Nhlangulela is acting in Mbenenge’s position, leaving the troubled Mthatha division largely rudderless.
And, in Gqeberha, deputy judge president Dawid van Zyl retired more than 10 months ago, meaning a series of people have had to act in that position.
Instead of seeking to resolve this, the JSC opted to not appoint anyone to Gqeberha and also left open positions in Makhanda and Mthatha.
The next round of interviews is only in April.
The JSC needs to buck up and do its job properly. Six months is a long time to leave parts of the Eastern Cape judiciary in leadership limbo.
Hopefully Maya and the JSC will pay attention to these concerns.
Daily Dispatch
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