Western Cape judge Mushtak Parker committed gross misconduct because he lied when he gave “contradictory versions” on an alleged assault by former judge president John Hlophe, the judicial conduct tribunal has found.
According to the constitution, if the judicial service commission (JSC) finds a judge guilty of gross misconduct it constitutes grounds for impeachment.
Ten judges of the Western Cape filed a complaint that Parker acted “dishonestly” and lied under oath when he told them he was assaulted by Hlophe in his chambers on February 25 2019, and thereafter retracted the story when deputy judge president Patricia Goliath filed a formal complaint on the matter to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) in January 2020.
Over a period of months, Parker told several judges the former division head punched him and accused him of “wanting to screw” his wife at the time, judge Gayaat Salie-Hlophe.
When the assault was in the spotlight Parker then denied Hlophe, who faced other misconduct complaints at the time, assaulted him.
The tribunal, chaired by retired judge president Bernard Ngoepe, found Parker lied regardless of which version was true.
“The undisputed evidence is that the respondent [Parker] gave two contrary versions in respect of an incident that happened in his chambers between him and Judge Hlophe.
“Regardless of which version is true, one of them had to be a lie, and that is also incompatible and unbecoming the holding of judicial office,” read the tribunal finding, published on Friday.
The JSC will now decide whether or not to agree or disagree with the findings.
Should it agree with the findings, the National Assembly can call for Parker to be impeached.
The tribunal found Parker’s inconsistencies in his version of events were damaging to Goliath.
“If there was no assault, there is evidence from multiple sources that Judge Parker misled Goliath DJP, Judge [Derek] Wille and a number of other judges of the Western Cape High Court into believing that there was an assault, resulting in the making of a damaging claim by Goliath DJP against Hlophe,” the tribunal found.
“If on the other hand there was an assault, it is grossly dishonourable for Judge Parker to support Dr Hlophe in denying it and to expose Goliath DJP to the criticisms made by Dr Hlophe.”
Hlophe had accused Goliath of incompetence, lying and racism.
Several judges of the province’s high court testified Parker told them, separately, that he was pushed by Hlophe against a cupboard, hit a key which injured him on his back and fell to the floor.
Testifying at the tribunal Judge Mark Sher, who said he had known Parker for about 40 years, said Parker confided in him that the alleged incident left him “humiliated and needing counselling”.
Sher said Parker later told him of a meeting he had with Hlophe in which he was “pressured” not to file an official complaint.
Other judges who testified at the tribunal included Katharine Savage, Esther Steyn, Judith Cloete, Andre Le Grange, Robert Henney and Derek Wille, who had written the initial affidavit by Parker and took pictures of the broken key.
Parker’s lawyer advocate William King did not ask the witnesses questions or contest evidence.
Parker also committed gross misconduct on a second complaint when he lied to the JSC during his interview to become a judge by not disclosing his law firm operated on a deficit for years, something he was legally required to disclose.
Parker, his brother Irfan and partner Abdurahman Khan, are accused of managing a law firm which allegedly misappropriated clients’ money it held in trust and operated on an R8m deficit by 2018.
The shortfall was paid by the judge and lawyers in 2020 after having to make personal sacrifices.
Irfan told the tribunal the shortfall was created by Khan, who dipped into client funds to pay his financial contributions to the operations of the firm.
Parker did not dispute the evidence against him at the tribunal on the second complaint.
The tribunal found: “The respondent and his partners misappropriated funds of their trust creditors while he practised as an attorney and acted in breach of the rules of the law society over a long period by not disclosing to the law society when there was a deficit in the trust account of his law firm.
“His failure to disclose in his nomination questionnaire and in the interview before the JSC that the trust account of his law firm had a deficit for a long time while he was the managing director, constitutes gross misconduct on his part. Individually and cumulatively, the above two findings, each constituting gross misconduct on the part of the respondent as they do, bring the Judiciary into disrepute.”
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