did not act unlawfully when she settled with Siyaya, the company accused of corruption, while she was chairperson of Prasa. This was the submission made during the closing arguments of the Judicial Conduct Tribunal in Rosebank, Johannesburg, which is investigating Makhubele’s alleged misconduct.
The suspended Judge’s legal counsel argued that there was no misconduct on the part of Makhubele. She is alleged to have reached out to the counsel for a corruption-accused company, Siyaya which was in litigation with Prasa during her tenure as Chairperson of the state-owned company. “A director of a company with the authority to run the affairs of the institution is entitled where the board deems it necessary that certain aspects of the business of the organisation be looked into by a board member. It’s not uncommon. We didn’t break the law, we submitted. There’s no investigation that she broke the law. There was nothing wrong in focusing on the Siyaya matters if it was identified that there was a need to do so.
“Is there evidence that Justice Makhubele intentionally or unintentionally furthered an illicit purpose? We submit there was none but that submission sits in the submissions of the complainants. The complainants have not submitted a single shred of evidence that supports that kind of conclusion,” Adv Thabani Masuku explains.