Cape Town - The ANC has lambasted the DA’s Glynnis Breytenbach for questioning Western Cape High Court Judge Siraj Desai’s independence.
It comes after Breytenbach raised questions about Judge Desai’s meeting with ANC officials.
ANC Ward 115 branch secretary Luchulumanco Nanto said: “We are quite perplexed and disgusted that the DA is trying to turn a social visit by Western Cape High Court judge to the Walmer Estate home of a respected community leader into a political opportunity to try to besmirch Judge Desai.”
According to Nanto, Judge Desai visited the home of his fellow activist and legal fraternity colleague Attorney Igshaan Higgins. “The Judge was also at the Higgins home to have lunch with a leader of the local Kurdish community. This coincided with a door-to-door campaign conducted in the area by the ANC Ward 115 branch election teams and our candidate Anwa Peters. Nothing untoward or unethical happened,” he said.
The DA has long regarded Judge Desai as one of its enemies and made that much clear in Parliamentary hearings when they opposed his bid to become public protector, Nanto said.
Breytenbach said she wrote to Judge Desai after seeing social media pictures of him in what “is alleged to be an ANC meeting”.
She requested information about the meeting, she said.
“If this is the judge, then he should naturally have declared his cosy relationship upfront each time such a matter was before him, and recused himself from the adjudication of such matters, or at the very least, offered to recuse himself, giving the parties the opportunity to apply their minds to his independence and objectivity.”
She said Judge Desai has presided over a number of cases involving political parties.
“If he indeed has this close-up and cosy relationship with the ANC, and more particularly, with ANC Ward 115 and Councillor Anwa Peters, participating in what is termed “a meeting between the councillor and community leaders in Walmer Estate ahead of the December 9, 2020, by-election”, then this is very problematic.
“It naturally calls into question his independence and objectivity when dealing with matters involving opposition parties, and more particularly, those involving the DA,” said Breytenbach.
Speaking to the Cape Argus yesterday, Judge Desai denied that a “meeting” with the ANC had taken place, and said it was a lunch.
He also denied receiving a letter from Breytenbach.
“I have not received anything from her and I have no intention of engaging with her.
“I come from a different era, and I have been involved in the Struggle for years. I have never seen Breytenbach in the Struggle,” he said.
Judge Desai is expected to retire in the next two weeks.
Cape Argus