- Casac complained to Parliament's Registrar of Members' Interests about Julius Malema.
- The complaint is about Malema's unsubstantiated attacks on the judiciary and his conduct at the JSC.
- Casac wants the registrar to recommend Malema is in breach of the ethics code and should be withdrawn as a delegate to the JSC.
The Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (Casac) has complained to Parliament's Registrar of Members' Interests over EFF leader Julius Malema's unsubstantiated attacks on the judiciary and his conduct at the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).
Casac's executive secretary, Lawson Naidoo, has asked the registrar to recommend to Parliament's Joint Committee on Ethics and Members' Interests that Malema is in breach of the ethics code and should be withdrawn as the National Assembly's delegate to the JSC.
At a press briefing on 30 March, a day after he appeared in the East London Regional Court on firearms-related charges, Malema echoed a term, used by corruption-accused former president Jacob Zuma, and repeated the sentiments of the so-called RET grouping in the ANC, that prosecutions were selective.
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"The rule of law in South Africa is applied selectively, and sections of the judiciary are being co-opted into this nonsensical direction," Malema said at the time, without providing evidence.
"While we still respect the commission of inquiry into state capture, we should state here that the direction that the Zondo Commission has assumed is aimed at satisfying certain factional agendas and programmes.
Benefit
"We do not and will not associate with people who have stolen government money and resources for their own benefit, and we do not associate with any faction in any political party.
"We, however, correctly observe that the Zondo Commission is now assuming a factional agenda and programme, aimed at protecting the white capitalist establishment."
Naidoo quoted these remarks in his affidavit to the registrar and provided News24's report on the briefing as an annexure.
"These remarks constitute an attack on particular judges personally and the judiciary more broadly, and undermine the constitutionally guaranteed independence, impartiality, dignity, accessibility and effectiveness of the judiciary," Naidoo wrote in his affidavit.
Naidoo also took issue with Malema's conduct at the JSC last month, saying it "underscores his unsuitability as a delegate of the Assembly".
Naidoo referred to Malema calling Judge Dhaya Pillay "nothing but a political activist" and a member of a Pravin Gordhan-led faction, and questioning Judge Elias Matojane about a ruling he made against the EFF in Trevor Manuel's defamation suit against them.
"Both these instances are illustrative of the kind of inappropriate questioning and conduct in JSC proceedings by Mr Malema, which are harmful to both the JSC and the institution of the judiciary. They also do not reflect well on the National Assembly," reads Naidoo's affidavit.
Naidoo wrote to the registrar after he approached the Speaker of the National Assembly, Thandi Modise, and she advised him to pursue this course of action.