Drunk judge Motata to hear his ‘gravy train’ fate next week

Retired Judge Nkola Motata will face his fate next week on whether he will be stripped of retired judge benefits should he be impeached.

His case is set to be finalised next week according to Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng on Thursday, Sowetan reports.

Motata was found guilty of drunken driving in January 2007 for crashing his Jaguar into a wall after he was recorded swearing at onlookers when he was found at the scene. He had reversed his Jaguar through Richard Baird’s wall near Sandton and claimed he only had two glasses of wine in a period of four hours.

Should he be impeached, he stands to lose all benefits.

According to the Judges’ Remuneration Act, a retired judge is entitled to two-thirds of their salary and if the judge is survived by a spouse, he or she would be entitled to half of that until such time as they die.

Although Motata’s earning of a salary while on special leave was not subject to the condition, he would have to repay the money if found guilty of gross misconduct by the Judicial Conduct Tribunal.

The tribunal found on April 12, 2018, that Motata’s conduct and his remarks at the scene of his 2001 car accident were racist and impugning on the impartiality and dignity of the courts.

The Citizen previously reported that Motata has been paid about R16 million of taxpayers’ money and his gravy train – which paid out nearly R14 million between 2007 and 2016 while he was on special leave – is set to continue while the Judicial Service Commission drags its heels on the matter of his impeachment.

(Compiled by Gopolang Moloko, background reporting by Amanda Watson.)

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