Legal Practice Council drops some charges against Dali Mpofu

Three of the seven charges faced by senior counsel Dali Mpofu at the Legal Practice Council (LPC) have been dropped. 

Mpofu's disciplinary hearing for several alleged breaches of the code of conduct for legal practitioners was due to begin on Wednesday. It was postponed because there was a power outage at the LPC’s Gauteng office and because of amendments to the charge sheet, said Daniel Mpanza, advocate and chair of the disciplinary committee. 

The charges dropped relate to Mpofu’s conduct when he cross-examined former public protector Thuli Madonsela during the parliamentary impeachment inquiry of her successor Busisiwe Mkhwebane and a remark during a Judicial Service Commission (JSC) interview in February 2022 that he and chief justice Mandisa Maya “spent our nights together”. Mpofu later in the interview clarified he was referring to an all-night study session. 

Mpanza said those charges were dropped because the panel was informed that “the complainants in those matters have indicated they are not prepared to proceed”. In relation to the charge concerning Maya, “the judge informed the LPC she didn’t want to proceed, the matter affects her and all those things; it’s personal”. 

The remaining charges relate to four instances of conduct by Mpofu:  

• the statement Mpofu made to the chairperson of Mkhwebane's impeachment inquiry, Qubudile Dyantyi, that he would “pay one day” for what Mpofu called abuse by Dyantyi. He added this was “not a threat, it’s a promise”;  
• the cross-examination by Mpofu of former Sars official Johann van Loggerenberg during the same inquiry, where Mpofu questioned Van Loggerenberg about his mental health and asked if he suffered from a psychological condition;  
• Mpofu’s line of questioning to Gauteng judge president Dunstan Mlambo during the February 2022 JSC interviews for the chief justice position, in which he asked the judge president about a “rumour” that he had sexually harassed aspiring acting judges “without providing any evidence or detail on what evidence or facts you were basing your questions”; and  
• the charge related to a letter sent by the legal team Mpofu led to the judges in a court case between Peter Moyo and Old Mutual. The letter caused the judges such “disquiet” that they sent their judgment to the LPC for “investigation”.  

Mpanza said two of the remaining charges had been amended and “we are giving Mr Mpofu SC an opportunity to respond to the charges and prepare his own defence”.

There was no deadline yet for Mpofu’s response to the charges. The hearing was postponed sine die — with no set date for its return. Mpanza said he hoped the matter “comes back sooner rather than later”. 

Also present at the LPC’s Gauteng office on Wednesday was a team from the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (Casac), which was one of the complainants against Mpofu.  

Speaking to the media afterwards, Casac's Lawson Naidoo said Casac had lodged its complaint almost two years ago. It was a “serious concern for us that having wasted all this time to get to this point the matter has been postponed”, though he acknowledging the power outage was beyond the LPC’s control. 

Naidoo said the charge sheet’s amendment was done without consulting Casac and Casac did not understand the withdrawal of charges. Though Madonsela and Maya did not want to proceed, the complaint was laid by Casac.  

It “was not dependent on the approval, or even the evidence, of those two people, because the evidence is publicly available”, he said. 

“So we want to understand from the LPC why those charges have been withdrawn because it makes no sense to us.”  

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