IT was a wet and windy winter’s day as the usual congregation of gregarious conversationalists sought out the warmth of the local pub and grill. I was sitting in my regular corner, quietly sipping a draught and minding my own business. Not for long.
“Yes! Yes! Yes!” pronounced Luke the Dude. “Have you been following the latest display of behaviour failure in Parliament? The committee looking into the suspended Public Protector’s fitness to be in that job. Busisiwe Mkhwebane. This time it was not Julius Malema and the EFF raising the hackles, but her advocate, one Dali Mpofu.”
“That one!” snarled Jean-Jay. “No difference then; not only is he a member of the EFF, he was its chairman until, how you say, okay not too long ago. At the Judicial Service Commission Mpofu and Malema were a tag team, making a spectacle of a very serious job: interviewing candidates for our next Chief Judge.”
“Similar complaints about his conduct at the Zondo inquiry into state capture,” added Bill the Beard, “where he angrily told a fellow advocate to ‘shut up’. His target was Advocate Michelle le Roux, who represented Minister Pravin Gordhan.
“And not content with that, he also told Minister Gordhan to ‘Shut Up!’ That was enough, though, for then Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, who chaired the commission. He reprimanded Mpofu SC – yes, he is a senior counsel – pointing out to him that ‘I’m in charge.’
“Mpofu had to appear at a disciplinary hearing of the Legal Practice Council because of that. But surprise, surprise, they cleared him. Apparently because ‘shut up’ is not rude in Xhosa.”
“Useless!” ruled Jon the Joker. “Who said ‘the law is an ass’?”
“Charles Dickens, I believe,” informed The Prof, “in Oliver Twist.”
“Useless!” confirmed the Joker, “all those years ago and nothing has changed…”
“So what behaviour did our learned friend Dali Mpofu display in Parliament?” asked Miss Lily.
“Oh, just being his usual self,” reported Luke the Dude. “Such as insulting and belittling witnesses. Committee chairman Richard Dyantyi had to step in more than once to get him back in line. Other Members of Parliament on the committee also took offense at his conduct.
“One witness had his medical status dragged in for no good reason; another had, in the words of MP Kevin Mileham, ‘some really, really horrible insults’ hurled at him.”
“Sounds like a man with no respect for other people,” frowned Miss Lily.
“It goes back a long way,” said Stevie the Poet, “let me fill you in about Dali Mpofu, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and stories about money.
“As a young lawyer, Mpofu was a junior member of the legal team defending Winnie Mandela in the 1991 Stompie Seipei trial. She was convicted of kidnapping and being an accessory to assault. On appeal, her 6-year prison sentence was reduced to a fine and a 2-year suspended sentence.
“He was also her deputy when she ran the ANC’s social welfare department. This came to an end when she left in disgrace and Mpofu was fired. The point is, they have known each other well since before the ANC takeover in 1994 and, notably, after Mandela’s release in 1990, walking hand-in-hand with his wife from the prison gates.
“The gossip soon spread. I remember reading at the time that she put ‘the old man’ to bed at about ten and then walked out of the Mandela home in Soweto to Dali’s car waiting outside… unperturbed by the curious eyes in the street. Any talk of a relationship was denied.
“And then there was The Letter in March 1992. It was revealed in September of that year on the front pages of the Sunday Tribune, Sunday Times and Sunday Star, from where it made international headlines. I found comprehensive reports in the 7 September 1992 editions of Independent.co.uk and the Baltimore Sun. This is what was reported:
“A letter in Mrs Mandela’s handwriting, addressed to ‘Dali’ and signed ‘It’s me’ had been leaked to South Africa’s Sunday papers, who had it authenticated by handwriting experts and sources closely linked to the Mandela family. ‘We were cautious,’ said Brian Pottinger, then political editor of the Sunday Times.”
“Please forgive me for interrupting,” frowned The Prof, “do they quote directly from the letter?”
“They do,” confirmed the informed Stevie, “here, I’ll read it; this is from Independent.co.uk:”
‘The only time you have time to talk to me is about women ofeba nabo (a Xhosa term meaning ‘women you are having sex with’), as you are doing right now. You are supposed to care so much for me that the fact that I haven’t been speaking to Tata for five months now over you is no longer your concern.
‘I keep telling you the situation is deteriorating at home, you are not bothered because you are satisfying yourself every night with a woman… I won’t be your bloody fool, Dali.
‘You think you can just wish away certain things Dali, not with me. I tell you I’m in trouble with the Simmonds Street a/c which reflects over R160,000 drawn over a period for you. You don’t even bother to check how we can overcome this. I tell you (ANC lawyer Ismael) Ayob has been sent by Tata to get an accountant to investigate my a/c. I tell you Ntombi (a woman in the ANC welfare department) is gossiping about the cheques we used to ask her to cash in the name of the Dept and how I gave you all that money,’ the letter reads.
“Oh dear,” worried Irene the Queen, “this must have been devastating to Mr Mandela. Do you think the picture painted here caused the break-up of their marriage?”
“I do,” smiled Stevie, “less than a month later, Mr Mandela announced his separation from Winnie.
“A few minutes ago Miss Lily remarked that – judging by current events – advocate Dali Mpofu sounds like a man with no respect for other people. He may also have disrespected, utterly, no less a person than the late President Nelson Mandela.”
E-mail: noag@maxitec.co.za
