{"id":12203,"date":"2026-01-09T00:19:34","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T00:19:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/12203\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T00:19:34","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T00:19:34","slug":"advocate-ishmael-semenya-slams-requests-to-recuse-judge-sisi-khampepe-from-trc-inquiry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/12203\/","title":{"rendered":"Advocate Ishmael Semenya slams requests to recuse judge Sisi Khampepe from TRC inquiry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Advocate Ishmael Semenya has dismissed the requests by two former presidents and several former cabinet ministers for the recusal of justice Sisi Khampepe<\/a> from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) inquiry, saying their allegations of possible impartiality by the judge are without merit and intended to deceive.<\/p>\n

This comes after presidents Jacob Zuma and Thabo Mbeki filed applications seeking the recusal of Khampepe, arguing that: <\/p>\n

she has a disqualifying conflict of interest arising from her prior roles in the TRC Amnesty Committee and as deputy national director of public prosecutions, which they contend intersect directly with the commission\u2019s mandate; and thatshe engaged in serious misconduct by providing undisclosed legal advice to Semenya to defeat a recusal application over which she was presiding, thereby undermining impartiality and procedural fairness.<\/p>\n

The applications are also supported by Brigitte Mabandla, Charles Nqakula, Thoko Didiza<\/a> and Ronnie Kasrils, who also claimed allegations of conflicts of interest, misconduct and apprehension of bias.<\/p>\n

In his answering affidavit to the application, Semenya dismissed the claims, saying the applicants provided no evidence to suggest the chairperson lacks impartiality.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat evidence do the applicants offer for the contention that a reasonable person viewing the correct facts reasonably and objectively would reasonably apprehend that the chairperson would not bring an impartial mind to bear on the adjudication of the matters falling within the commission\u2019s mandate?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

The applicants offer no evidence whatsoever why the chairperson\u2019s previous positions would impair her impartiality on issues that are relevant to the terms of reference. Nor indeed can they because there is no such evidence<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Advocate Ishmael Semenya<\/p>\n

Semenya is the chief evidence leader in the judicial commission of inquiry that is investigating allegations of interventions to stop the investigation or prosecution of TRC cases. He said Khampepe\u2019s involvement in the TRC between 1995 and 2001 has no overlap with the commission\u2019s mandate, which concerns alleged interference in prosecutions from 2003 onwards.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe applicants offer no evidence whatsoever why the chairperson\u2019s previous positions would impair her impartiality on issues that are relevant to the terms of reference. Nor indeed can they because there is no such evidence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Last year the National Prosecuting Authority and the department of justice wanted Semenya to be recused<\/a> from the hearing, also citing conflict of interest.<\/p>\n

According to Semenya, Zuma, Mbeki as well as the former cabinet ministers, are also now attempting to revisit his recusal indirectly through the present recusal application.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ruling that the commission made on whether I was conflicted, given my previous involvement in the Nkadimeng matter, is challenged by the applicants on spurious grounds. They knew that there was an application to have me removed as an evidence leader. They elected not to participate in the application for my recusal. The applicants now seek to resuscitate that issue via the back door,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Semenya said the application brought by Mbeki and Zuma has merely adopted \u201cthe same or similar grounds … However, like the Zuma application, their application also falls to be dismissed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Calata Group opposes \u2018opportunistic\u2019 recusal application <\/p>\n

The human rights group known as \u201cCalata Group\u201d has also opposed the application of the recusal of Khampepe, citing the applicants as opportunists.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe application was brought way out of time. It is gratuitous and opportunistic, and it is a transparent attempt to derail or delay this commission\u2019s proceedings,\u201d said Asmita Thakor, the attorney for the 25 families and the founding member of group.<\/p>\n

The Calata Group has called for the dismissal of the Zuma application, which Thakor said was not brought within a reasonable period.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lateness of the Mbeki application is even more egregious. Mbeki waited some 204 days before raising his objection against the chairperson,\u201d Thakor said.<\/p>\n

Zuma Foundation spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi<\/a> said Khamepe was causing delays for not recusing herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we say \u2018move\u2019 and you don\u2019t move, and you say, \u2018justify why I must move\u2019, who\u2019s wasting time here? It\u2019s the person who is refusing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not just saying move because we hate you as a person. Here is your rotting history that we\u2019re putting on the table to say, because of this rotting history, you\u2019re not the most desirable person to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sowetan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Advocate Ishmael Semenya has dismissed the requests by two former presidents and several former cabinet ministers for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[8320,8321,8318,8314,8315,8317,8316,131,4711,8319],"class_list":{"0":"post-12203","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-south-africa","8":"tag-advocate-ishmael-semenya","9":"tag-advocate-ishmael-semenya-affidavit","10":"tag-asmita-thakor-attorney","11":"tag-calata-group-opposition","12":"tag-conflict-of-interest","13":"tag-justice-sisi-khampepe","14":"tag-nkadimeng-matter","15":"tag-south-africa","16":"tag-thabo-mbeki","17":"tag-truth-reconciliation-commission"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}