Advocate takes fight to Mpumalanga judge

A prominent Johannesburg advocate has fired back at an acting judge who last week tore into him for breaching the Covid-19 lockdown regulations with a bid to challenge his scathing judgment in the Supreme Court of Appeal and to have the author foot the bill.

Last Friday, acting Judge Hein Brauckmann delivered judgment on a group of lawyers and advocates whom he charged had appeared before him in the Mpumalanga High Court earlier in the week without first obtaining valid permits to travel to and from proceedings. He hauled them over the coals, barred them from charging their clients for the work and referred them to the Legal Practice Council.

But advocate Mxolisi Zondo – whom Brauckmann in his judgment said had “acted recklessly” and “openly defied the regulations” – has now approached the court with an application for leave to appeal.

Brauckmann said Zondo had “failed to present a permit to my secretary, despite being requested to do so by her prior to the proceedings and during the proceedings by me”.

But in Zondo’s papers – which were filed on Tuesday and listed his instructing attorney as a second applicant – he labelled the acting judge’s statement “patently false” and said it placed Brauckmann’s integrity in question.

He said Brauckmann’s judgment came “without any prior warning” and that it “uncharacteristically berated” him and his peers.

He accused Brauckmann of having impugned his reputation – and the reputations of his peers – “without any legal and factual basis” and of demonstrating a “complete lack of understanding of the law”.

“[He] concocted a story not obtained from any admissible evidence, based on falsehood,” the papers read.

In them, Brauckmann was described as “malicious” in making his findings and his judgment as an “attack”.

“The misdirection committed by the acting judge is of such a serious nature that it goes to the heart of his failure to uphold the oath of judicial office, and to be independent, impartial and uphold the rule of law,” they said, “This is a matter where not only should leave to appeal be granted, but the judicial veil should be pierced in order that [Zondo and his instructing attorney] are entitled to recover the legal costs they have incurred in pursuing the appeal, from the acting judge”.

Zondo’s application is currently before the court, pending a decision.

In the meantime, advocate Thami Ncongwane SC – whom Brauckmann also found against in his judgment – said yesterday that he was still considering his options.

“I’ve perused this judgment and I have referred it to the legal team that I’ve appointed for advice and then as soon as I receive their advice, which will be in due time, I can take it from there,” he said.

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