Pretoria - Advocate Dali Mpofu has been cleared of any wrongdoing by the Legal Practice Council following his “shut up while I am speaking” remarks while appearing before the Zondo commission of inquiry into allegations of state capture more than a year ago.
The council last month hauled Mpofu before it for a disciplinary hearing on an unprofessional conduct charge. It has now, however, dismissed the complaints against him. Spokesperson Kabelo Letebele had earlier told the Pretoria News that while the disciplinary hearing would be closed to the media, the outcome would be made public.
Letebele, however, could not be reached yesterday to obtain the outcome of the hearing, other than that Mpofu was cleared of wrongdoing.
Mpofu could also not be reached for comment, but he earlier told this paper that he was not worried about the hearing and was not about to face any sanctions.
“There is one charge which follows the so-called shut-up saga. It seems like this thing will be with us for the next two decades,” he said earlier.
The charge against comes from a heated moment when Mpofu was cross-examining Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan in March last year, on behalf of former SA Revenue Service commissioner Tom Moyane.
He told Gordhan’s legal counsel Michelle le Roux to “shut up while I’m talking” after he had objected to her line of questions to Gordhan. Mpofu said Le Roux was not sticking to the script as per the cross-examination procedures and that she was introducing new questions.
Mpofu went on to label her as a “junior counsel”, stating she was disrespecting a senior counsel after she had interrupted him twice. In the process, Mpofu also told Gordhan to shut up, prompting the inquiry’s chairperson, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, to intervene, telling him “I’m in charge”.
Pretoria News