On 22 June 2023 the Supreme Court of Appeal ordered the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to invoke the impeachment provisions of the Constitution (section 177(1)) to Judge Nkola John Motata.
In January 2007 Judge Motata crashed his car into a suburban wall, got into an altercation with the house owner, and made racist comments to him.
A criminal court found Judge Motata guilty of drunken driving.
Complaints alleging that Judge Motala was unfit to be a judge were referred to the Judicial Conduct Tribunal (Tribunal) of the JSC.
The Tribunal determined on the evidence that Judge Motata was inebriated and that he had made racist utterances, which amounted to gross misconduct. It recommended that the JSC invoke the impeachment provisions.
The majority of the JSC found the judge guilty of “simple” misconduct and imposed a fine of R1,152,000.00. This decision was made in October 2019.
Freedom Under Law (FUL) took the JSC’s decision on review to the High Court. The high court rejected all FUL’s grounds of review.
On appeal against the court’s decision, the SCA found the JSC majority’s decision untenable on a number of grounds. It disregarded the factual findings of the Tribunal without giving reasons why. The Tribunal had had the benefits of seeing all the evidence.
The JSC had not considered whether the Tribunal had considered the issue ‘fully and fairly’.
The SCA also held that the high court had not considered the impact on the public of the judge’s behaviour on the integrity of the justice system. It held that his removal was the only option.
The majority of the SCA remitted the matter back to the JSC obliging it to deal with it in terms of Section 20(4) of the JSC Act, and to submit the finding of gross misconduct to the Speaker of the National Assembly.
The minority judgment, concurring with the judgment, disagreed with remedy and said that the matter should be referred back to the JSC for reconsideration.
[Photo: Veli Nhlapo for The Sowetan]