Durban - A senior official in the Department of Justice has been taken to the Equality Court over a racist remark he allegedly made 20 years ago where he allegedly referred to an Indian colleague as a “c*****”.
The Association for the Advancement of Black Rescue and Insolvency Practitioners of South Africa (Abripsa) early this month filed the papers at the Equality Court in Pretoria against the Chief Master of the High Court, advocate Lester Basson.
In court papers, the association also alleged that Basson was unfit for his position because he had failed to drive transformation in the insolvency industry.
Basson, who is now based in Pretoria, was working as the acting master of the high court in Pietermaritzburg at the time when he allegedly used the word “c*****” in reference to Indian liquidator, advocate Indhera Goberdhan (nee Rajah).
Goberdhan, who lives in Pietermaritzburg, is an Abripsa member.
Department of Justice spokesman Mthunzi Mhanga said on Monday that he had spoken to Basson about the matter.
“We are going to defend the matter in court. He (Basson) made it clear that he denies those allegations and that he would defend himself in court,” said Mhanga.
Basson declined to comment to The Mercury.
Abripsa general secretary Mohamed Patel, who filed the papers on May 5, said the alleged remark was made in the period “around 1995 and 1996”.
The papers alleged that Basson was talking to a white employee, Leratta Smith, when he insulted Goberdhan.
“The remark was directed against Rajah (Goberdhan) and black persons of Indian descent in general.
“The words that the second respondent (Basson) propagated were therefore reasonably construed to demonstrate a clear intention to be hurtful, harmful and made to incite, promote or propagate hatred towards blacks of Indian origin,” said Patel in the court papers.
Early this year Smith made an affidavit at the Loop (Jabu Ndlovu) Street police station where she stated that she was friends with Basson, who was assistant master in the Pietermaritzburg High Court, when he called her into his office.
She said during the conversation, Basson told her that she should not be friends with Goberdhan whom he called a “c*****”.
Patel said he decided to take action after hearing about the incident from Goberdhan early this year. He said he approached Smith, who agreed to testify.
“Smith informed Indhera about this many years ago, but she (Goberdhan) was reluctant to come out about it as she feared that it might have an impact on her in future,” he said.
Patel, who runs Cape Town-based insolvency company, Good Hope Trustees, said Abripsa wanted the court to force Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha to also fire Basson for incompetency by failing to have transformed a “white male dominant insolvency industry”.
He said members of the Abripsa were being sidelined when it came to the practice.
A law lecturer at the University of KZN School of Law, Maropeng Mpya, said Basson could still be prosecuted for the offence he allegedly committed years ago.
“The wrong does not expire just by the simple lapse of time.
“That is a normal principle that applies.
“Since the defendant is still within the judiciary the matter is still necessary because if that person still thinks in that fashion then he should be rooted out of the system,” said Mpya.
The Mercury