{"id":20125,"date":"2013-06-03T15:27:46","date_gmt":"2013-06-03T13:27:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/hearing-fast-tracked-as-top-job-looms\/"},"modified":"2013-06-03T15:27:46","modified_gmt":"2013-06-03T13:27:46","slug":"hearing-fast-tracked-as-top-job-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/hearing-fast-tracked-as-top-job-looms\/","title":{"rendered":"Hearing fast-tracked as top job looms"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>        \t                                <!-- Main Editorial Image --><br \/>\n                    \t\t\t      \t\t\t                                      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/plugins\/rss-poster\/cache\/c2b99_3337544446.jpg\" alt=\"Copy of stanley gumede\" title=\"\" class=\"pics\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"captions_credit_article\">ING.<\/p>\n<p class=\"captions\">STANLEY GUMEDE<\/p>\n<p class=\"captions\">\n<p class=\"related_articles\">Related Stories<\/p>\n<ul class=\"menu_tab_lists_related\">\n<li><a class=\"related_articles\" href=\"http:\/\/www.iol.co.za:80\/news\/crime-courts\/gumede-charged-with-misconduct-1.1525734\">Gumede charged with misconduct<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!--PSTYLE=WT Web Text--><\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Durban &#8211; A disciplinary hearing that has dragged on for nine years against Pinetown chief magistrate Stanley Gumede will be carried out as speedily as possible, apparently because he is being mooted as the new head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Magistrate\u2019s Commission spokesman Danie Schoeman denied there was a link between the NPA appointment and Gumede\u2019s hearing but said the hearing would not be delayed. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">\u201cThe date will depend on circumstances. We have to complete a process of appointing a presiding officer and it also depends on Gumede\u2019s readiness, as he may want to have legal representation,\u201d said Schoeman. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Gumede is being investigated by the commission after complaints by prosecutors that he was unfairly tough on them. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Schoeman confirmed on Sunday that the commission had finally charged Gumede with misconduct after an investigation had produced prima facie evidence against him. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Durban attorney Comfort Ngidi, who is supporting Gumede\u2019s appointment to the NPA, has written a letter to the commission complaining that its investigation is unfair because it has dragged on for years. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Ngidi said he suspected the charges had resurfaced because of Gumede\u2019s possible NPA appointment. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">\u201cHe should have been charged with misconduct as soon as his employer became aware of the complaints. The charges get raised whenever he is considered for a prominent position,\u201d said Ngidi. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">For example, the allegations were raised in 2009 when Hamilton Cele resigned as the president of the regional court to become president of the labour court and Gumede was considered to replace him. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">\u201cWhen an acting president of the regional court was appointed, the charges died down. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">\u201cAgain, when Cele\u2019s position was advertised, the allegations against Gumede were raised again but died down when the position was given to (Eric) Nzimande,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">However, Ngidi said he hoped that Gumede would have a fair hearing. \u201cI hope that those who preside over the hearing won\u2019t be prejudiced by Gumede being considered for the NPA post,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Schoeman said the investigation and charges had no bearing on the appointment of the NPA head. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">\u201cThe commission has to investigate the complaints, which were brought before it some years ago. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">\u201cThis was before the issue of appointing him as NPA head came to light,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">\u00a0The NPA is led by acting head Nomvula Mokhatla and has been without a permanent leader since 2011 when the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled that advocate Menzi Simelane was unsuitable for the position. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">This ruling was later upheld by the Constitutional Court. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">On Sunday repeated attempts by The Mercury to reach Gumede were unsuccessful. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\"><strong>The Mercury<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ING. STANLEY GUMEDE Related Stories Gumede charged with misconduct Durban &#8211; A disciplinary hearing that has dragged on for nine years against Pinetown chief magistrate Stanley Gumede will be carried out as speedily as possible, apparently because he is being mooted as the new head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). Magistrate\u2019s Commission spokesman Danie [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8275,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-20125","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20125\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}