Pretoria - ANC veteran Mogomotsi Mogodiri has agreed with social activist Mcebo Dlamini that senior legal practitioner advocate Dali Mpofu’s work “against the system” will be more meaningful in the future despite the court cases he has lost in the past two years.
Mogodiri, an ANC member, former political detainee, ex-MK combatant and media specialist, was reacting to Dlamini’s utterances during the court case between former president Jacob Zuma and his successor, Cyril Ramaphosa.
The legal battle between the two ANC leaders has attracted international attention, with political analysts and many social media users labelling it as a threat to the continued existence of the ANC as a governing party.
Some have suggested that as long as Zuma employs the legal services of Mpofu, he would continue to lose court cases as the system was rigged against the former statesman.
“When you are a legal activist, yours is absolutely not about winning cases. It is about exposing the biases of the system, stretching the Constitution and challenging and developing jurisprudence. “It is to challenge the status quo, not to allow the system to be too comfortable. Senior Counsel Dali Mpofu is that to me, a legal activist,” said Dlamini.
Dlamini added that he did not expect Zuma to win any case against Ramaphosa, but his legal battles would be remembered in the future.
“When you are a political activist, yours is to make yourself available to fight the system and weaken it. Having said that, the aim of Jacob Zuma is not to win cases, (but) he is on a serious mission to expose the judiciary.
“It might not be clear to everyone now, but in the long run these judgments against Zuma’s applications will be felt as they are creating a very dangerous legal precedent, and soon the courts will find themselves entangled in something that they also don’t know,” Dlamini said.
Mogodiri said it was up to the judges of the land to dispel doubts about their intentions. “If we are not to even destroy whatever is left of the integrity of our country’s judiciary, it is critical that the conduct of judicial officers is beyond reproach.
“They should not issue contradictory judgments that are informed or influenced by who is litigating,” he said.
The ANC veteran said it was therefore important to carefully interpret the efforts of lawyers such as advocate Mpofu.
“Therefore, the issue shouldn’t be about the number of cases an attorney or advocate has won or lost, as even great human rights lawyers like the late George Bizos lost a number of cases of freedom fighters under apartheid.
“It must be about the law, its shortcomings notwithstanding, and its application no matter who’s involved in the matter being adjudicated,” said Mogodiri.
Ramaphosa has won the first round of his private prosecution by Zuma following a full Bench ruling of the Gauteng High Court order granting him an interdict preventing him from appearing in the Johannesburg High Court last Thursday.
The JG Zuma Foundation has indicated that Zuma’s lawyers will appeal against the interdict.
The private prosecution case has been postponed to May 26 to allow Part B of Ramaphosa’s application to challenge the private prosecution against him.
Pretoria News