Zondo calls for facts on Malema’s criticism of East London magistrate

Chief Justice Raymond Zondo would not be drawn into calling for Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema to apologise to magistrate Twanett Olivier for the comments he made about her last month.

Addressing supporters outside the East London Magistrate’s Court last month, Malema said magistrate Olivier’s judgment in his ongoing firearm case was a “sponsored judgment”.

This comes after Olivier denied his application to have his 2018 case of allegedly illegally discharging a firearm thrown out of court.

Malema accused Olivier of corruption after she adjourned the court for a short while because she had forgotten notes of her judgment in her chambers.

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“She’s shaking like hell because it’s not her judgment, it’s a sponsored judgment. Where have you heard such a thing that a magistrate leaves in the middle of a judgment to go behind the court and when she comes back, she’s shaking like a little girl in Grade 1 to give an English presentation in front of her classmates,” Malema told supporters.

Several institutions, including the ministry of justice and correctional service, condemned Malema’s comments, with some calling for him to apologise to the magistrate.

However, Malema said it would not happen.

Zondo on whether Malema should apologise

Speaking to Newzroom Afrika on Monday, Zondo said he would not be drawn into calling for an apology from Malema but instead called for facts to be established. He said, however, that Malema’s comments on the magistrate were “unprecedented”.

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“Out of all the times that Malema may have made some of the statements that he has made, I was out of the country, attending a conference in Tanzania, which included a meeting of the southern and eastern Africa chief justices forum,” said Zondo.

“For a whole week I was not here. I’m not saying I’m not aware of some of the statements that he made. I’m simply saying I understand he made statements over a certain period of time, so I may have missed some and got some because I was out of the country.

“I think it’s important to try and obtain the full facts, but certainly, that kind of attack on a member of the judiciary is something that is not known. I don’t think anybody has ever mounted that kind of attack on the judiciary on a member of the judiciary.

“But it’s going to be important to try and get all the facts because some of the things that he was saying are things that may have happened in court, and I’m not aware that the magistrate has responded or anybody has put her side of the story. But it was certainly an unprecedented attack.”

Zondo further said while some of the criticisms of judges were substantiated, only a few judges in the country deserved the criticism.

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“I accept that we in the judiciary have our own challenges, and my message is always that we have to do our best to try and conduct ourselves in a manner that fits the office that we hold in the judicial office, and we should try and avoid anything that could help those who want to attack the judiciary,” said Zondo.

“However, whatever challenges there may be, they relate to a very small percentage of the judges and, of course, at a certain stage, you might have accusations, allegations that might later on not be proved, so we must bear that in mind. But it’s a very small percentage of judges that have serious concerns of behaviour that may cause misconduct.”