‘Judge Maumela allocated Meyiwa trial to himself’: tribunal hears inquiry into judge’s ‘misconduct’

Suspended Pretoria high court judge Tshifhiwa Maumela was never meant to preside over the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial but defied his seniors' instructions.

This was revealed by Gauteng judge president Dunstan Mlambo, who testified against Maumela in a hearing into his conduct by the judicial conduct tribunal.

The tribunal, chaired by retired Constitutional Court judge Chris Jafta, heard evidence from Mlambo, who lodged a complaint against Maumela for alleged failure to deliver judgments timeously between 2012 and 2020.

The tribunal will determine whether Maumela committed gross incompetence and misconduct and whether his health condition affected him from performing his work.

Maumela would allegedly take between 12-24 months to hand down judgments and in one instance allegedly took five years to deliver a nine-page judgment. The norms and standards set three months for a judge to deliver judgment after a case has been heard.

As the head of the court and Maumela’s senior, Mlambo said he could not entrust Maumela with serious matters because the judgment would was likely to be reserved and delayed. Because of this Mlambo and deputy judge president Aubrey Ledwaba decided Maumela would not preside over the high-profile Meyiwa murder trial.

He was never supposed to hear the trial. He demonstrated to me, as head of the court, that he was prone to being incompetent.

—  Gauteng judge president Dunstan Mlambo

Instead, Maumela was tasked with overseeing the pretrial phase and told to alert Mlambo and Ledwaba once it was concluded for them to find a more suitable judge for the trial proceedings.

“That never happened. Once he finished with the pretrial of the matter, he went straight and heard the evidence. By that time, the horse had bolted. We couldn’t say that he shouldn’t have started the matter.

“He was never supposed to hear the trial. He demonstrated to me, as head of the court, that he was prone to being incompetent. That’s why I say he continues to make himself guilty of gross incompetence. He was told not to hear that trial and once it was ready, he should tell us,” Mlambo said.

Advocate Ghandi Badela, who represented Maumela, said the suspended judge never allocated the Meyiwa case to himself.

“What happened is a roll with the matter allocated to him was produced, not by him. Litigants came to his chambers and said they were ready for the matter to proceed. He never allocated the matter to himself as you alluded,” Badela said.

Mlambo stuck to his testimony and agreed to bring documents to support his statement.

Mlambo listed instances where Maumela failed to perform his duties, even though he was given a lighter workload than other judges.

In one case, a plaintiff died while waiting for a reserved judgment which was only handed down four years after the matter was concluded and two years after the plaintiff's death. 

Other examples included Maumela taking more than a year to deliver an outcome of an application for leave to appeal, and in another case, he did not show up for a hearing at the Pretoria high court despite him setting the date.

“I got a call that all the parties are in court, but [Maumela] was not there. I called him and he was in Venda. One of the advocates in the matter had flown in from Cape Town. There are three examples where he would postpone a matter to recess and would not show up,” Mlambo said.

He said he rarely received a response to emails or phone calls questioning the delays and when he did, Maumela would commit to a date which he would sometimes miss by two years.

Mlambo said he managed to get hold of Maumela by calling another judge.

“I told him that I have been looking for him and that he has not returned my emails and calls and we agreed to meet once he is back in Pretoria. When we met, at that time about 28 judgments were outstanding. He said to me that his laptop had crashed. I was surprised. If your laptop crashes, it doesn’t mean you have to sit back and do nothing.”

Maumela was suspended in June last year while presiding over the Meyiwa murder trial. In a suspension notice signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa, the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) recommended the judge’s suspension pending the outcome the inquiry into Mlambo’s complaint against him. In the meantime, the JSC proposed Maumela finalise all matters before him.

The hearing will resume on Tuesday.

The inquiry is also set to hear testimony from Maumela later this week.