A civil activist group, the SA First Forum, has asked the Legal Practice Council and the Johannesburg Society of Advocates to investigate the conduct of former president Jacob Zuma’s legal team after his recent, unsanctioned walkout at the state capture commission.
In the complaint to the council — a statutory body charged with regulating the conduct of legal practitioners — the forum’s convener, advocate Rod Solomons asked it to determine whether Zuma’s legal team, led by advocate Muzi Sikhakhane, was “irresponsible and unprofessional in how they advised and represented” Zuma, during his latest appearance at the commission led by deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo.
Zuma walked out on proceedings on November 19 after a failed bid to get Zondo to recuse himself.
Zuma’s exit — without permission from Zondo and despite a summons requiring him to face questioning by the commission — resulted in Zondo laying a criminal charge against Zuma with the SA Police Service.
“Mr Zuma and his legal team’s walking out of the proceedings of the Zondo commission, without the approval of its chairperson ... can be regarded as a direct attack on our criminal justice system,” Solomons said in the letter sent last week.
“Clearly Mr Zuma could not have engaged in such an action without the advice of his legal team.”
In announcing his decision to lay a criminal charge against Zuma, Zondo said: “[Zuma’s] conduct may send a message to all other witnesses, who might not be comfortable to come and answer questions in this commission, that it is the right thing to do for a witness who has been summoned to decide to excuse himself and that witnesses who have been summoned can come and go as they please before the commission.”
But Solomons said in his complaint to the council’s chair, Kathleen Matolo-Dlepu, that the conduct of Zuma’s legal team “is of a bigger concern as they are after all officers of the court and should have been aware that a witness summonsed to appear cannot just leave without the express approval of the presiding officer”.
The forum argued that the action of Zuma’s lawyers “brought the legal profession and administration of justice into disrepute”.
According to a subsequent press statement, the forum has asked both bodies to investigate whether Zuma’s legal team transgressed the code of conduct for legal practitioners. The complaint was lodged “to protect the integrity of such judicial commissions of inquiry and that of the deputy chief justice”.
In the letter to the council, it flagged Sikhakhane’s behaviour in particular, such as instances where he allegedly gestured and pointed at Zondo “in a disparaging manner”.
Solomons said in the letter that “a line in the sand needs to be drawn” to prevent such actions becoming “the order of the day in such proceedings”.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.