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Mail & Guardian reports that Judge Colin Lamont has recused himself from hearing a civil lawsuit brought by the Marikana victims against President Cyril Ramaphosa, the state and mining company Lonmin Plc (now owned by Sibanye-Stillwater).
Lawyers representing the plaintiffs say their clients are deciding on a course of action after the judge decided to recuse himself from the R1-billion civil suit. A complaint over the judge’s conduct is on the cards for what attorney Andries Nkome said was the unfair treatment of his clients. He claimed Lamont had been earlier aware of a recusal application relating to his ownership of shares in Sibanye-Stillwater, which acquired Lonmin in 2019. “We relied on the deputy judge president for a date, time has been wasted now. The judge knew about this matter on 9 August already ... So the clients believe they are being treated unfairly,” Nkome said. On Tuesday, Lamont recused himself from the class action case involving 329 wounded and arrested mineworkers from the Marikana massacre, after the application was lodged. He disclosed his shareholding two days before the matter came before him and sold the shares the day before. The shares were estimated to have been worth R200,000, according to the victims’ counsel, Dali Mpofu SC, during arguments in court. In the recusal application, it was argued that Lamont’s shareholding was central to the perceived bias by the plaintiffs and this therefore constituted grounds for an automatic recusal. The matter will now be heard by another judge.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tunicia Phillips on page 13 of Mail & Guardian of 17 September 2021
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