Numerous allegations of misconduct against new
deputy-registrar.
A senior official with legal responsibilities at the University of Cape Town
had been suspended from the practice of law in the United States for eighteen
months before taking up his job at the university. Dr Paul Ngobeni took up the
position of deputy registrar (legal services and secretariat) at UCT in
September this year. He was suspended from legal practice in Connecticut in late
2005, and continues to face a series of misconduct and criminal charges in that
state.
Ngobeni left South Africa on a scholarship to study in the United States in
1982. A graduate of New York University he was admitted to the Connecticut bar
in 1989 and ran a private law practice in that state from 1996 to 2006. He moved
back to South Africa in August this year and took up his position at UCT the
following month.
Ngobeni has been tipped to take over the position of registrar once the current
incumbent, Hugh Amoore, retires. The
responsibilities
of the registrar include acting as secretary to the council, senate and
convocation. He is also in charge of academic administration and legal issues
across the university.
In his current position Ngobeni is
responsible
for providing legal advice to the university on a range of matters, managing
litigation for the university, and ensuring legal compliance of proposed sexual
harassment policies. He is also responsible for student discipline and ensuring
due process is followed for students, and others, accused of misconduct.
Ngobeni was indefinitely suspended from the practice of law in Connecticut in
December 2005 by Judge Vanessa Bryant after he failed to appear for a
presentment hearing. His licence to practise law was subsequently suspended in
Massachusetts, and he was also barred from practicing law in federal courts in
April 2006.
In May and June 2006 he failed to appear before a series of
grievance panel hearings in Connecticut, which found that he had engaged in
"unethical conduct" and violated the rules of professional conduct. These
related mainly, but not exclusively, to his alleged failure to communicate with
clients or pursue their cases with the necessary diligence. The grievance panel
recommended that he be presented to the superior court.
In October 2006 the Connecticut Law
Tribune reported that Ngobeni had been arrested
earlier that month on charges of forgery and larceny
stemming from the work he did on immigration matters. The
criminal case is currently pending in the superior court in Danielson,
Connecticut. Ngobeni has brought a motion to dismiss the charges, and a ruling
is expected soon on the matter. Ngobeni told Politicsweb that he was
confident that the charges would be dismissed.
In June 2007 Patricia King, from the office of the chief disciplinary council,
brought a presentment to the superior court in Hartford, Connecticut, on
seventeen counts arising from various grievance committee hearings. On October
17 this year Judge Graham of the Superior Court issued a default judgment (in
absentia) against Ngobeni. The order disbarred Ngobeni for thirteen years. It
also set various conditions for his reinstatement. These include paying a total
of $28,050 in restitution on ten of the counts.
Ngobeni said that he was bringing a motion to have the decision set aside and
the presentment complaint dismissed as well. In his motion he contested the
court's jurisdiction as well as the merits of the allegations made against him.
Last week Ngobeni entered into the debate around the secret payments received by
Judge John Hlophe from Oasis, and the propriety of the decision by the Judicial
Service Commission - the body responsible for disciplining judges - not to
institute a formal inquiry into the matter.
In an
article for the Cape Times on Wednesday (October 17) he defended
Hlophe from his critics at the Cape bar and UCT law faculty. He claimed that
Hlophe was "factually innocent" and calls for his resignation stemmed from "mean-spirited
ulterior motives." He wrote:
"Hlophe's racist detractors *1 are hell-bent on
ignoring legal principles in their rush to lynch him. They
would have gladly made very sophisticated arguments in his defence if Hlophe
were white *2. The JSC has properly concluded that Hlophe's ethical
lapses do not warrant further investigation or a formal hearing."
With
acknowledgements to politicsweb.
*1As far as I know, not all of
Hlophe's detractors are white, nor do I think that any of them are racists.
On the other hand, I think that the evidence shows that Hlophe is a racist.
Certainly Ngobeni comes across as a racist.
*2Would they?
What has race got to do with it anyway?
Even if race had anything to do with it, why is it acceptable to be a black
racist and not a white racist?
Or have I got the cat by the googlies?
What is incontrovertible is that Judge Hlophe's conduct is unethical and
unacceptable for a judge and that he is being opportunistic in respect of the
verbal say-so of a deceased Minister of Justice (not that his verbal permission
was acceptable in any case).