EFF STATEMENT IN DEFENCE OF ADV MPOFU SHUT UP COMMENT
Thursday, 25 March 2021
The EFF is proud of Adv. Dali Mpofu's comments against both Pravin Gordhan and his white legal counsel at the Zondo Commission of Enquiry. Adv. Dali Mpofu unequivocally told both Pravin Gordhan and his white legal counsel to Shut Up after an avalanche of interruptions which the chairperson allowed; meaning after the chair failed dismally to protect Mpofu from frivolous and condescending interruptions.
It is the duty of all blacks and African lawyers never to accept condescending treatment in any commission or court of law. If Judges who preside over legal hearings will not be sensitised to the historically proven fact that Africans get undermined by other racial groups as a matter of normalised practice, then in the name the right to dignity, African lawyers must defend themselves.
I’m SO available for this fight..For the dignity of black people & black professionals,specifically those who are willing to be free from MENTAL SLAVERY!
— Dali Mpofu (@AdvDali_Mpofu) March 25, 2021
After 369years we have run out of “other cheeks” to turn
RACISM AND ITS APOLOGISTS MUST AND WILL FALL!
Lets get it on!✊🏾
Judge Zondo failed dismally to protect Adv. Mpofu from the beginning to the end of his cross examination. Later, he could not protect him when that junior white counsel with her condescending Gordhan interrupted him without even speaking through the chair. That Adv. Mpofu had to tell Gordhan and his white legal counsel to shut up when he speaks, is evidence of Zondo's own incompetence in enforcing equal respect and decorum for all.
In his own admission, Zondo indicated that nowhere has it occurred that a lawyer says "shut up" to another lawyer and a witness. The question is why did it happen under his watch? How is it that a respectable Senior Counsel with massive court and litigation experience like Adv. Dali Mpofu had to resort to protecting himself in that manner against a white counsel and a witness?
Zondo's dishonest condemnation of Adv. Mpofu must be seen for what it truly is: he is scared of white people. He is unable to reign on white arrogance. It is critical to note here that Gordhan is not black: he is a perfect non-white stooge with a proven history of undermining Africans.
In addition, Judge Zondo needs to start asking himself a serious question regarding the growing public perception of his bias. His condemnation of Adv. Mpofu is yet another instance of bias. There was absolutely no attempt to diagnose what happened, just a conclusion that Mpofu must be wrong.
Like in all situations of interracial conflict, Zondo concluded without even pretending to give a balanced reading of the events, that a black persons is guilty. This is because blacks cannot naturally control their emotions, they are erratic and irrational. If they get angry, poor natives, it is all due to this problem of their inability to subject their emotions to intellect.
Advocate Mpofu is a Senior Counsel and deserved the respect of that white junior by all expected standards of legal cultural decorum. He also deserved the due protection from the chairperson of the commission which he did not receive. In fact at times, the chairperson aided the utter disrespect Mpofu experienced.
We therefore believe in what Mpofu did: it is a perfect instance of legitimate black rage and defence! Black people have the right to be angry at racism. They have the right to defend themselves and demand respect at any given time, anywhere including in the bias courtyard of Zondo.
Statement issued by the EFF, 2 March 2021
