A misconduct complaint to the Legal Practice Council (LPC) against senior counsel Dali Mpofu has remained unresolved for more than a year, with the LPC saying it requires witnesses “directly involved” to give evidence or to formally lodge complaints.
But the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (Casac) said its complaint was “based on court judgments and conduct in proceedings that were broadcast live for all to see”. “We simply don’t understand why the LPC cannot determine the complaint,” Casac’s Lawson Naidoo said on Friday.
Casac’s 14-page complaint, made in May 2023, alleged several breaches of the LPC’s code of conduct for legal practitioners, saying Mpofu behaved unprofessionally towards women colleagues and towards the evidence leaders, chairperson and a witness during parliament’s impeachment inquiry into former public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane.
He had made a sexist, demeaning, remark in the 2022 Judicial Service Commission interview of then-Supreme Court of Appeal president Mandisa Maya, said the complaint. His treatment of evidence leaders Nazreen Bawa SC and Ncumisa Mayosi was “unduly intemperate, discourteous and prone to outburst” and he had repeatedly accused them of colluding with the inquiry. He had threatened the chairperson Qubudile Dyantyi saying “you will pay one day”, and had questioned a witness, former South African Revenue Service executive Johann van Loggerenberg, about his mental health.
His questioning of former public protector Thuli Madonsela was a “shameful episode”, said Casac. “In the course of his questioning of Madonsela, Mpofu SC saw fit to read into the official parliamentary record various sexist, misogynistic and degrading comments about Madonsela’s appearance, her marriage and her bona fides (repeating conspiracy theories about her being a CIA agent).”
The LPC said: “Nearly all the complaints received against Adv Mpofu ... were from persons or entities not directly involved in any of the matters and [were] based on nothing more than what was reported on in the media. Hearsay evidence has very little, to no evidentiary value.”
“In any disciplinary hearing, court cases and so on, the best evidence must be presented to the tribunal or court to ensure a fair hearing”.
The LPC told Casac only one “directly involved” witness had responded and indicated he would not be lodging a complaint and did not see the necessity to give evidence. News24 has reported on correspondence between the LPC and Dyanti, suggesting this witness was him. News24 reported Dyantyi as saying: “the investigating committee does not have to reach far for video footage of the incident". It was "readily available on YouTube, and the recording [and] transcript can be obtained from parliament".
The Sunday Times approached the others named in Casac’s complaint. Only Madonsela said she had been contacted by the LPC, although she initially missed their emails. Maya said she had “no communication of any nature from the LPC”. Bawa said: “No, nothing that I know of,” and Mayosi said she did “not recall being contacted by the LPC”. Van Loggerenberg said: “I was not approached by the LPC at all. This is the first time I’ve heard of such a suggestion.”
Madonsela said she had since seen the LPC’s emails, and was still considering her response. “I don’t understand why I am being asked to consider lodging a complaint given there is already a complaint,” she said.
Asked to comment on what Maya, Bawa, Mayosi and Van Loggerenberg said, the LPC said it had “reached out to a variety of individuals ... primarily by email. A number of the individuals pointed out, through media, that they had not received correspondence from us — we are making follow ups to ensure that we can get their responses.”
The complaint was also sent to Mpofu. But in June last year the LPC told Casac it had received no response.
I don’t understand why I am being asked to consider lodging a complaint given there is already a complaint
— Former public protector Thuli Madonsela
Mpofu told the Sunday Times he could “no longer keep up with the co-ordinated, hate-driven and politically-motivated campaign of frivolous ‘complaints’” and did not have the time to entertain all of them one by one.
But as a member of the Pan African Bar Association and the LPC, “I place my trust and confidence on [these two bodies] to see through these thinly veiled political agendas or take whatever steps they deem appropriate”.
“I am prepared to face my countless accusers on any appropriate forum or stage, anytime anywhere,” said Mpofu.
He said he could not “specifically remember the entire list of right wing and racist individuals or organisations who are complainants, but I think they include [retired Constitutional Court justice] “Johann Kriegler, [former DA leader and MP] Douglas Gibson, Afriforum, Casac and their ilk”.
Kriegler said he had not lodged any complaint against Mpofu at the LPC “or any other body”. On Mpofu’s allegation of right-wing racism, “I am happy to be judged on my public record, stretching back to co-founding both the Legal Resources Centre and Lawyers for Human Rights in the dark days,” said Kriegler.
AfriForum’s Kallie Kriel said he could find no record at AfriForum of any LPC complaint against Mpofu, adding that it was a “very boring strategy” to avoid accountability and “divert attention by making false allegations of racism and being right-wing". There was no basis for the allegation, he said. Gibson could not be reached for comment.
Naidoo said Casac was concerned about how long it was taking for the LPC to deal with the complaint, “which now appears to be deliberately obstructive”. The delay undermined confidence in the LPC’s role, he said.
The LPC said it would hold all legal practitioners accountable “no matter who they are. However, this requires due process to be followed, which sometimes may take longer than expected, due to the nature of the complaints received and the quality of evidence presented to the Council.”
Mpofu said: “Only death and no amount of intimidation or media campaigns will ever stop my lifelong fight for the underdog and those despised by the system. The evil apartheid regime tried hard with me and failed. All this comes as no surprise so I’m definitely not shaken by their antics. In fact, I would go as far as daring them to bring it on.”
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