Judge who has not worked since 2018 to face tribunal
Judge Lepona Joshua Lekale, who is reportedly visually impaired, has refused early retirement
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For the first time, the Judicial Service Commission has set up a tribunal to investigate a judge’s alleged incapacity. Illustration: Bronwyn Webb
- Free State Judge Lepona Joshua Lekale has not performed any judicial duties since 2018. He is now facing a tribunal over whether he is fit to remain on the bench.
- Lekale, who is reportedly visually impaired, has repeatedly said he will be able to return to work. He has refused early retirement, saying a traditional healer warned him not to leave office.
- It is the first time the Judicial Service Commission has set up a tribunal to investigate a judge’s alleged incapacity.
- The tribunal is due to sit from 22 to 24 July.
Free State Judge Lepona Joshua Lekale has not performed any judicial duties since 2018. He is now facing a tribunal over whether he is fit to remain on the bench.
Lekale, who is reportedly visually impaired, has repeatedly said he will be able to return to work.
He has refused early retirement, saying a traditional healer warned him not to leave office.
It is the first time the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has set up a tribunal to investigate a judge’s alleged incapacity, rather than misconduct or gross misconduct.
The tribunal is due to sit from 22 to 24 July.
The complaint was lodged by Free State Judge President Cagney Musi. It came after Lekale refused to take early retirement. Instead, he submitted successive medical certificates from the same doctor stating that he would be fit to return to work within the coming months.
Lekale has also said that a traditional healer told him not to take early retirement, and that his eyesight would return.
Lekale has not yet completed the 15 years of service required to qualify for a full judicial pension or “salary for life”.
Judge’s Matter researcher Mbekezeli Benjamin said the tribunal’s central task will be determining Lekale’s health status and how it affects the broader judiciary, but accountability will loom large.
“It will also shed light on how the tribunal manages Western medicine with African spirituality, in the context of the demands of the judiciary,” Benjamin said.
Retired Deputy President of the Supreme Court of Appeal Judge Xola Petse will chair the tribunal.
The complaint was first considered by the Judicial Conduct Committee (JCC). In a ruling issued in May 2025, the committee recommended that a tribunal be established.
The JCC’s report said Lekale was appointed in 2012 and had served a “short period” of six years before “his service was interrupted” by illness in 2018.
From time to time, he was granted sick leave on the strength of medical certificates.
The JCC said that after five years, it had become apparent to Musi that Lekale would not, or could not, resume duties. When Musi raised the issue of leaving active service, Lekale said a traditional healer had warned him not to do so.
Lekale confirmed this account to the JCC. He said the traditional healer had told him his ancestors would be “offended” if he retired, and that he would become permanently blind as a result. The healer had also told him his sight would return.
Lekale also relied on a recent medical certificate from an ophthalmologist stating that he would be fit to resume work in July 2025.
But the JCC questioned the value of that certificate.
“The certificate does not specifically say the respondent’s health condition has improved. And as rightly pointed out by [Musi], this doctor has routinely issued certificates of a similar nature as far back as 2019.
“The certificate would say that [Lekale] would be fit to resume duties on a specific date, but when that date passed, a fresh certificate would be issued, fixing a later date,” the committee said
The JCC concluded that Lekale continued to suffer from “the same illness” and was unable to perform his judicial duties. Since 2018, an acting judge has had to be appointed to cover for him, and the JCC said this situation “has now become untenable”.
Based on the evidence, the JCC said, it was likely that a tribunal would find that Lekale suffered from incapacity and should be removed from office.
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