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[FILE] Pan African Bar Association of South Africa Year End Function, November 2023.
The Pan African Bar Association of South Africa (PABASA) has bemoaned remarks by the presiding judge in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial, Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng, regarding black lawyers.
He made the comments on Friday at the High Court in Pretoria, implying that black legal professionals acted unprofessionally compared to their white counterparts.
On Thursday of last week, he expressed outrage after learning that defense advocate Charles Mnisi had written to the court registrar requesting an excusal from court, as he would be participating in the Comrades Marathon.
Mokgoatlheng told the court then that the murder trial could not be sidelined for personal activities and that no white advocate would dare make such a request.
Judge Mokgoatlheng has since apologised for his remarks, saying that his conduct was questionable.
Secretary General of the association, Advocate Dali Mpofu, says racism needs to be condemned.
“As PABASA, we are happy that we called out racism. We will continue to do so. We will never get tired of calling out racism and to that extent, the judge did the right thing upon reflection, and we want to thank his family members who prevailed on him to do the right thing. The point of the matter is that you cannot tolerate that racism from the bench. Well, you cannot tolerate it from anywhere for that, but more so from the bench of SA, which is a representative of our people and the custodian of the constitution. The judge must rehabilitate himself from this kind of belief in the inferiority of people.”
Meyiwa murder trial Judge Ratha apologises for his ‘black lawyers’ remarks:
