‘Drunk judge’ Motata found guilty of misconduct; must pay R1.1m fine

“Judge Nkola Motata shall pay a fine of R1,152,650 that is equivalent of 12 months of his current salary, which shall be payable in full over a period of not more than 24 months from the date of this decision,” the commission announced in Midrand on Thursday.

The JSC said the fine should be paid to the South African Judicial Education Institute which provides education for judicial officers.

Its decision comes after a ruling by the judicial tribunal which found that Motata’s conduct at the scene of a car crash in 2007 was racist and lacked integrity.

Breaking: Retired Justice Nkola Motata will not be impeached, he will pay a fine of more than a million rand as he was only guilty of the lessor charge, misconduct, not gross misconduct as the majority felt he was provoked by the alleged use of the k-word <- This was never proved

— Amanda Watson (@_amandzing) October 10, 2019

The tribunal’s report also found that Motata’s conduct at the scene and the “remarks he made were racist and thus impinged on and were prejudicial to the impartiality and dignity of the courts”.

Although the tribunal recommended to the JSC that Motata be removed from office, in line with Section 177(1)(a) of the Constitution that deals with the conduct of judges, it rejected this.

Motata was found guilty in 2009 by the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria of drunk driving and fined R20,000, News24 previously reported.

This after he crashed into a wall at a house in Johannesburg in 2007 with his luxury Jaguar while drunk.

He previously admitted to making remarks to the owner of the house such as: “No Boer is going to undermine me … this used to be a white man’s land, even if they have more land … South Africa belongs to us. We are ruling South Africa.”

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.