February 13, 2025 - South Africa’s Judicial Conduct Committee said it set aside the dismissal of a complaint by jailed Nigerian militant leader, Henry Okah, saying that documents he filed in an appeal process were tampered with.
A four-member panel of the Judicial Conduct Committee in a February 12 ruling said the matter is being referred for an inquiry.
“The dismissal of the complaint is set aside and the matter is referred to the Acting Chairperson for an inquiry under section 17 of the Act,” the panel declared in the ruling.
Okah had lodged a complaint against South Africa’s Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, alleging he had caused some officials in the registrar’s office to tamper with documents in his appeal filing, making it defective, for which reason it was dismissed. The Acting Chairperson of the Judicial Conduct Committee had summarily dismissed Okah’s complaint for having defects. He challenged that dismissal which was now granted by the committee.
Section 17 of the Judicial Service Commission Act of 1994 provides procedures for inquiring into allegations of complaints against judges that could result in dismissal or the constitution of a tribunal for further inquiry.
The committee noted that Okah was arrested in South Africa, where he was a resident, in 2010 for terrorist activities committed in Nigeria by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) of which he was found to be the leader. He was tried and convicted by a South African High Court and given a 24-year jail term he is currently serving.
Okah has always rejected his conviction and repeatedly sought to challenge it for violating Section 37 of the South African Constitution and Article 5 of the Third Geneva Convention of 1949. He sees himself as a prisoner of war.
It was in the course of legal filings to challenge his arrest and incarceration that Okah said staff members in the office of the court registrar replaced documents in his file with fake documents to ensure the application was unsuccessful. Okah alleges this action was initiated by Chief Justice Zondo but his complaint was summarily dismissed.
In upholding Okah’s complaint, the Judicial Conduct Committee noted that it was “about conduct which occurred before the application was considered and which, according to the complainant, was designed to frustrate them.”
Chief Justice Zondo, as the respondent, was given the opportunity to respond as required by law but “made no representations,” the committee noted. It therefore decided that the complaint be subjected to an inquiry.
Okah, who holds that his arrest, trial and conviction over terrorism charges in South Africa was in violation of South Africa, has rejected repeated offers from the South African authorities to be released on parole. Okah views the offers as an attempt to deny him the right to his legitimate claims against the South African state for his wrongful arrest and conviction.
“It is evident that the plot to forcibly grant me release on parole is aimed at depriving me of the section 35(2)(d) constitutional right to have the lawfulness of my detention determined,” Okah said in a January 28, 2025 letter to the Minister of Correctional Services Dr Pieter Groenewald.
He concluded that letter by saying: “I wish to state once and for all that I WILL NOT ACCEPT RELEASE ON PAROLE AND THAT SHOULD ANY FURTHER ATTEMPT BE MADE BY ANYONE IN THE EMPLOY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES TO COERCE OR COMPEL ME TO ACCEPT RELEASE ON PAROLE, I WILL APPROACH THE COURTS SEEKING AN ORDER TO HALT SUCH UNLAWFUL CONDUCT.”
Okah holds that his arrest, trial and conviction was in violation of South African law, Nigerian law, international law, international human rights law and international humanitarian law.
Copyright: Fresh Angle International (www.freshangleng.com)
ISSN 2354 - 4104
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