Durban - Top legal professionals in the province have rallied around Judge President Chiman Patel who made a first brief court appearance on Tuesday on a charge of crimen injuria (criminal defamation) relating to alleged remarks he made to a stationery clerk in his chambers at the Durban High Court last year.
With him in court on Tuesday were KwaZulu-Natal State Attorney Krish Govender and respected senior advocate Pingla Hemraj, who is a member of the Marikana Commission of Inquiry.
Absent because of other commitments was Marumo Moerane SC, who will lead Judge Patel’s legal team. Moerane is also heading the legal team representing former president Thabo Mbeki and other ministers at the Seriti Commission of Inquiry into the arms deal.
Judge Patel is entitled to State-funded legal assistance and the state attorney’s office is on record as having briefed the two advocates. But Govender indicted on Tuesday that he was also at court as a “close colleague”.
Although the crime carries a paltry R250 admission-of-guilt fine, Judge Patel seems determined to prove his innocence through a trial in open court.
The judge, with the blessing of presiding magistrate Sharon Marks, sat next to his lawyers rather than in the dock.
He joked that he had better switch off his cellphone “otherwise it will be confiscated”, but then appeared solemn during the brief hearing.
State advocate Elaine Khuzwayo placed on record that the matter was ready for trial and it would be heard over two days in December before a regional court magistrate from another province.
She would call three, or possibly four, witnesses, naming them as the complainant Lindiwe Nxele, court manager Karien Marais, who was present in chambers at the time the alleged comments were made, Judge Patel’s secretary, Devika (Roma) Morar, and, possibly, a Charmaine Mkhize.
Hemraj asked for a commitment from the State that witnesses would be properly subpoenaed “because we do not want the trial to be delayed in any manner whatsoever”.
The charge sheet alleges that on October 22 last year Judge Patel called Nxele a “nonsense, trash, rubbish and useless person”. However, several sources who have had sight of the docket say there is no real case against the judge and that the charge is simply “mischief-making” with no possibility of success.
Sources have also told The Mercury that Judge Patel has requested permission to retire at the end of this year and whispers in the corridor are that his deputy, Judge Achmat Jappie, could be appointed for a year or two while either Judge Jerome Mguni or Judge Fikile Mokgohloa – both relatively junior judges – is groomed for the position.
Judge Patel was appointed in 2011, beating the “political favourite”, Judge Isaac Madondo, who commented in his interview with the Judicial Service Commission that Judge Patel was “not black enough” to deal with transformational issues.
The Mercury