The Special Tribunal is facing scrutiny after the resignation of its president, judge Lebogang Modiba, effectively brought the statutory body to a standstill.
Modiba’s departure from the tribunal, which was set up to recover public funds siphoned from the fiscus through corruption, fraud and illicit money flows and works closely with the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), follows the retirement of another tribunal judge while four others have been inactive for most of 2024.
“The effect of there not being a tribunal president has so far meant that the tribunal’s work has come to a grinding halt,” Mbekezeli Benjamin, a researcher from Judges Matter, told Business Day.
The tribunal deals with matters brought by SIU but Benjamin said “new applications from the SIU are not being lodged as there is no-one available to case manage them to trial or hearing”.
Benjamin calculated that the tribunal — which uses sitting high court judges without extra pay — has issued orders valued at R14bn.
‘Huge blow’
Just four judgments have been handed down by the tribunal so far this year and all were written by Modiba. Her absence, said Benjamin, “is a huge blow” to the tribunal’s work, considering she also authored 78 of the tribunal’s 107 judgments.
After GroundUp reported on Modiba’s resignation on Tuesday, officials said this was being addressed.
“The [justice] department was informed at the end of June 2024 of the resignation of Special Tribunal president Modiba and processes have been under way to capacitate the Special Tribunal,” justice department spokesperson Tsekiso Machike told GroundUp.
Capacity challenges at the SIU were only brought to the justice department’s attention in July. “This includes the appointment of four members of the Special Tribunal, including the president,” Machike told GroundUp.
The process to address these issues “is being processed to the minister [of justice] for approval,” Machike said. The matter will then go to President Cyril Ramaphosa, after consulting with the chief justice.
While not regarded as a court, the tribunal can set aside tenders and order the recovery of lost assets. But Benjamin said the tribunal “needs stand-alone legislation to clarify” where it is positioned in SA’s legal framework.
“The tribunal also needs dedicated staff and a budget, and to stop piggybacking off the department of justice’s budget which can be withdrawn at a whim,” he said.
Government officials will meet at the end of July to deal with the issues, but in the meantime it is unclear when the tribunal, and therefore part of the SIU’s work, will continue.
The justice department had not responded to questions at time of publication, while the SIU referred queries to the justice department.
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.