Chief Justice Raymond Zondo will soon write to National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula about the gross misconduct finding made against ‘drunk judge’ Nkola Motata – beginning a process that could see him becoming the first judge in SA history to be impeached.

JSC spokesperson, Advocate Sesi Baloyi SC, confirmed to News24 the JSC would not challenge the SCA ruling that Motata should face an impeachment vote.

She added that, in compliance with the orders given in that judgment, Zondo would be writing to Mapisa-Nqakula imminently.

Judith February, from Freedom Under Law (FUL), said the JSC's decision not to appeal the Motata ruling ‘is the most sensible option’. ‘This matter has dragged on for long enough,’ she told News24. ‘FUL hopes that the matter will now be referred to the Speaker of the National Assembly with due urgency.’

The report notes it has taken a staggering 16 years – as well as litigation launched by FUL – for Motata to face an impeachment vote over what SCA Judge Nathan Ponnan described as his ‘egregious’ conduct during his 2007 drunk driving crash and the trial that followed it.

Not only had Motata – who was found guilty of drunk driving in 2009 – repeatedly and dishonestly claimed that he was not drunk, but he also falsely accused the man who recorded his inebriated conduct after the accident, Richard Baird, of calling him the k-word.

The JSC’s decision not to appeal also means the damaging SCA finding that the JSC majority ‘blurred the distinction between the protection of the institution in the interests of the public at large and the protection of the personal interests of the judge’ remains an embarrassing indictment against those commissioners who pushed for Motata not to be impeached.

The News24 report notes Ponnan ordered the JSC to follow the provisions of the JSC Act that require it to inform Parliament once an impeachable gross misconduct finding is made against a judge.

Zondo’s letter to the Speaker will fulfil that obligation.

Once that letter is received by Mapisa-Nqakula, it will be up to the Speaker to schedule a vote in the National Assembly that will determine whether Motata is impeached.

In order for the judge to be stripped of his position and its benefits – which include a salary for life – two-thirds of the MPs will need to vote in support of his removal.

Motata’s fate, once a source of so much legal wrangling, will then become a political issue.

Full News24 report