The Judicial Conduct Tribunal into a misconduct complaint against Gauteng High Court, Pretoria Judge Nana Makhubele, was once again postponed this week over outstanding legal fees, which is said to run into more than R3 million.
While the State Attorney’s office had agreed to pay her for her legal representation before the tribunal, leader of the tribunal, retired KwaZulu-Natal Judge President, Achmat Jappie, was told that there still needed to be discussions regarding the tariffs relating to her legal representation.
Judge Makhubele was due to start with her version of events this week but the matter is now expected to resume on January 10. Judge Jappie made it clear that it will be the last postponement he will grant.
The tribunal postponed the matter in August to this week, also due to matters relating to her legal fees.
Judge Makhubele, a former board chairperson of the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa), is facing a misconduct investigation which could lead to her impeachment.
The investigation arises from a complaint filed by civil society organisation #UniteBehind three years ago.
It claims that Judge Makhubele violated the separation of powers principle by serving both as a judge and chair of a state-owned company.
She is said to have served on the Prasa board from October 19, 2017 to March 16, 2018.
Counsel for #UniteBehind, the complainant, at the start of the hearing in February, told the tribunal that Judge Makhubele’s conduct rendered her unfit to hold office. It was said that #UniteBehind’s case did not simply hinge on the date when she became a judge.
Judge Makhubele has denied wrongdoing, saying she had already resigned as Prasa chairperson when she was sworn in as a judge at the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria.
It is claimed that she improperly served as chairperson while she acted as a judge, and that she was at the time involved in litigation between Siyaya Rail Solutions and Prasa.
She was interviewed by the JSC for appointment as a judge of the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria on October 5, 2017. On the same day, the JSC announced that Makhubele was one of six candidates recommended as judges in Gauteng.
Two weeks later, on October 19, 2017, then-transport minister Joe Maswanganyi appointed Judge Makhubele as chairperson of Prasa’s board “until further notice”.
On November 2, 2017, the Presidency confirmed that then President Zuma had appointed her as a judge, to start on January 1, 2018.
Gauteng Judge President Dunstan Mlambo, who was the first witness to take the stand before the tribunal in February, testified that he was disappointed that Judge Makhubele was a member of the Prasa board at the time when she was appointed to take up her position as a judge in his division.
Judge Makhubele told him that she was not ready to resume her tasks on January 1, 2018, as per his instruction to her, as she still had outstanding matters to sort out.
She told Judge Mlambo that she was the chairperson of the Water Tribunal at that stage and asked whether she could resume her duties in April 2018.
Judge Mlambo responded that this did not matter, as it was not a conflict of interest and that she had to start her duties in January.
As she accepted her appointment as a judge, he expected her, together with the other newly appointed judges, in his office in the first week of January to be sworn in. Judge Mlambo said the roster was already worked out and Judge Mahkhuble was scheduled to handle appeals, but she did not pitch.
She later said it was because of her Water Tribunal duties.
Judge Mlambo said he then asked her whether she did not want to resume her duties at that stage as she was the chairperson of Prasa. Judge Mlambo said he had read in the media that she had been appointed to that position in October, when she was appointed as a judge.
He said his biggest disappointment was that she agreed to head the Prasa board, while the entity was implicated in alleged corrupt activities.
Judge Makhubele has been accused by former and current Prasa employees of favouring and interfering in the settling of legal matters between Prasa and Siyaya.
The Zondo Commission was earlier told that when Judge Makhubele was appointed as chairperson of Prasa’s interim board, she became preoccupied with the legal matter involving Siyaya.
Siyaya had been in a legal dispute with Prasa in 2017 regarding services the company claimed it rendered, but was not paid for.
It was claimed that Judge Makhubele had shared confidential information with Siyaya’s legal team and had prevented Prasa’s legal team from being involved in the matter. The issue was later settled at an arbitration proceeding, where it was agreed that Prasa would pay Siyaya R59 million with interest added.
Pretoria News