Pretoria - A former magistrate at the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court, who faced disciplinary action over claims she had “yawned shamelessly in court” and “looked uninterested in proceedings”, believes the complaints against her were racist.
She has now turned to the high court to have her conviction on 11 counts of misconduct, set aside.
Ndileka Ndamase said in court papers the complaints against her emanated from whites, and that she had been discriminated against because she is black. She also did not have a fair hearing, as the prosecutor and the officer who presided over her fate were white and biased against her, she said.
In her affidavit, she painted a bleak picture of the “lack of transformation” at (the Pretoria) magistrate’s court and the “treatment of black magistrates as being inferior by white court officials”.
Last year, she was suspended from her duties after being convicted of 11 counts of misconduct by the Magistrate’s Commission. The charges related to a series of complaints about her work and conduct in court. This included a complaint by a “white attorney’s firm” that accused her of “yawning shamelessly in court, with an open mouth”.
It was claimed that she “was about to fall asleep and did not take note of what was happening”.
Ndamase, in her statement before court, said Chief Magistrate Desmond Nair lodged complaints against her at the Ethics Committee of the Magistrate’s Commission that her work was not up to standard and that she behaved herself in an insubordinate manner. She was only served with a charge sheet in this regard 11 months later.
She established that the complaints were from white magistrates, attorneys and advocates, as well as from white court clerks. This resulted in her disciplinary hearing, which she said was unfair and not in accordance with the law.
Although her dismissal was recommended, she never received any notification in this regard, she said.
Ndamase said, since she started working at the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court in 1999, her life was made miserable because she was black. Time and again she was accused of incompetence, she said, but no steps were ever taken to remedy any of her “shortcomings”.
One of the problems at this office, she said, was that “white attorneys, and especially white advocates, were undermining black magistrates”. She accused Nair of siding with the “white colleagues”.
Nair often called her into his office and unfairly accused her of incompetence, she said, and she often had to swallow her tears.
Ndamase said she never had the opportunity to fully defend herself against the “false charges” during her disciplinary hearing.
The Magistrate’s Commission recommended that Parliament remove her from office and since then she has been at home, unemployed, she said.
Her lawyer, Trevor Mahomed, on Monday told the Pretoria News that the decision to remove her from office was malicious, as her application (to set aside her misconduct conviction) was pending before court.
Ndamese on Monday asked Judge Andre Louw to overturn her conviction, but it was deemed too serious to feature on an unopposed court roll. The Magistrate’s Commission and the Justice Minister have filed notices to oppose the application, but to date they have not filed opposing papers.
The judge has given them until May 10 to deliver the record of proceedings relating to the review to the applicant. The main application was postponed indefinitely.
Pretoria News