Judge Makhubele says she never called Tribunal witnesses liars

Judge Nana Makhubele was cross-examined on Friday at the Judicial Conduct Tribunal into her conduct as PRASA interim board chairperson.

• During cross-examination at the Judicial Conduct Tribunal, suspended Judge Nana Makhubele denied calling those who testified against her liars.
• Evidence before the Tribunal is that in total, claims of over R50-million between PRASA and Siyaya were agreed in an alleged “secret” settlement, which was referred to arbitration and later to the high court for confirmation.
• Makhubele says that the allegations that the settlement agreement had been done in “secret” were not proper.
• The Tribunal has adjourned until 22 and 23 February when cross examination is expected to continue.

Suspended Judge Nana Makhubele on Friday denied branding those who testified against her – including her boss Gauteng Judge President Dunstan Mlambo – as liars.

“I did not use that synonym-4. It is not in my vocabulary. That is a synonym-1 you want to hear advance out of my mouth,” she said. Makhubele was being cross examined by Senior State Advocate Dorian Paver before the Judicial Conduct Tribunal.

But Paver would not let it rest. After hearing her evidence in chief, he said, “One is driven to the conclusion that everyone who has given evidence at odds with yours, is not telling the truth.”

Makhubele responded: “It could be that none of us is accurate. I acquire never said I am correct. I maintain confronted allegations and where I believe documented proof I acquire provided it.”

At issue was, according to Paver, the fact that when witnesses, including Judge President Mlambo, were cross-examined by Makhubele’s former counsel, certain questions which supported her version were not keep to them. He pointed out that it would not be impartial to argue that witnesses were lying when her version had not been keep to them.

He said Judge Mlambo had testified that he and deputy Chief Justice Aubrey Ledwaba had summoned her to a meeting in mid-January 2018 to interrogate why she had not taken up her appointment and had “extracted” from her that she was still the seat of PRASA.

However, Makhubele said this meeting only took space in March that year because she had a prior agreement that she would only hold up judicial office from April.

Only one version could be right, Paver suggested.

“I did not argue in a vacuum that witnesses were lying. I maintain never used that synonym-4 in this forum,” Makhubele said.

Makhubele is accused of rude misconduct following a complaint by #UniteBehind that, not only did she sit as a judge at the same time that she was seat of PRASA’s interim board, but she also involved herself in state capture in connection with the Siyaya matter.

Earlier on Friday, during her evidence in chief, Makhubele said PRASA’s internal legal team did not attend an critical meeting to discuss the multi-million rand claims of the Siyaya group of companies.

At previous hearings, two witnesses from the legal department said that they had been sidelined by her in every Siyaya matters. Makhubele insisted that she did not sideline head of legal Martha Ngoye and colleague Fani Dingiswayo. She said they “absented themselves” from meetings. She said she recalled, in particular, that when the board was to discuss Siyaya’s claims on 15 December 2017, she had been told by the CEO that they were “at an office party”.

She similarly dismissed evidence by private attorney Madimpe Mogoshoa, who had been appointed by PRASA to deal with the Siyaya litigation. He claimed he had been told the board was now dealing with the issues – and he was not to speak to the legal team.

To which Makhubele testified that this was “his interpretation”.

“He was told not to deal with the legal team. Not that he could not talk to them.”

She said the settlement of the claims was discussed with Mogoshoa. She denied that he had simply been given figures and told to settle.

“We every sat down at the meeting. We went through each summons. The CEO presented the outcome of the investigations and consultations. He [Mogashoa] was sitting there and making inputs.

“We went through every claim, which should be settled, which should not, and which had already been settled,” she said.

Evidence before the Tribunal is that in total, claims of over R50 million were agreed in an alleged “secret” settlement, which was referred to arbitration and later to the high court for confirmation.

PRASA, through Ngoye – who has been named as a “whistleblower” – eventually brought proceedings to set aside the court order after Makhubele resigned as chairman. The money was not paid out.

Makhubele said: “The media ran with the narrative that I instructed that the money be paid. My recollection is that this was after every the negotiations and revisions (of the settlement), that everything was now done. I was not instructing that the payment be made. I was saying, attend to payment, as per the usual processes. The CEO knew those processes.”

She said it was common cause that the Chief Financial Officer did not design the payment. Makhubele said allegations that the settlement agreement had been done in “secret” were not accurate – and Mogoshoa had confirmed that.

“If it was a secret, why would I gain gone to every of these efforts, the CEO engaging in every these investigations and leaving paper trails?”

The Tribunal has adjourned until 22 and 23 February when cross examination is expected to continue.

However, Makhubele complained again about her lack of legal representation. Tribunal President Judge Achmat Jappie said she had enough time to fabricate arrangements in this regard “and you are required to be present”.

Read More at GroundUp