EFF leader is expected to make arrangements with Parliament in order to enter an apology to Judge Elias Matojane and the Judicial Services Commission by the end of September.
Image: Zwelethemba Kostile / ParliamentofRSA.
EFF leader Julius Malema has been ordered to apologise in the National Assembly by 30 September 2026 over questioning of Judge Elias Matojane during a 2021 Judicial Service Commission (JSC) interview.
This follows Malema’s referral by National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza to the Committee on Powers and Privileges after the Western Cape High Court dismissed his review application to the decision taken that he must apologise to Matojane and the JSC.
His trouble stemmed from JSC interviews held in April 2021 when Matojane was contesting for appointment in the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Malema, who was a member of the JSC, had asked the then Gauteng High Court judge about his ruling that the EFF should pay former finance minister Trevor Manuel R500,000.
His questioning had prompted the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution Executive Secretary Lawson Naidoo to lodge a complaint to the Ethics Committee.
The committee found in November 2021 that Malema had violated various clauses of the Code of Ethical Conduct and Disclosure of Members’ Interests and resolved that he must enter an apology in the House to Judge Matojane, and the JSC.
The Red Berets leader instituted a review application in the Western Cape High Court in February 2022, two months after the House had adopted the Ethics Committee report and the recommendations.
However, the High Court dismissed Malema’s application in May 2025 and found that all his five grounds of review were without merit.
National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza ordered Malema in December 2025 to enter an apology in the House no later than February 2026, and asked him to make arrangements to enter his apology at an appropriate time.
Committee chairperson Weziwe Tikana-Gxotiwe said it was Malema’s failure to enter the apology that prompted Didiza to refer the matter to the committee for consideration two months ago.
Tikana-Gxotiwe said she had written to Malema asking him to respond in writing to the allegations of contempt of Parliament by no later than August 25.
Malema responded on August 11, indicating that he will apologise to Matojane and the JSC.
“In the same correspondence, Mr Malema also invited the chairperson to furnish him with the date on which the apology can be tendered.”
Tikana-Gxotiwe stated that the committee has since resolved that Malema enter the apology as per the National Assembly resolution taken in December 2021.
“Such an apology should be tendered no later than 30 September 2026. Mr Malema should also be directed to make the necessary arrangements with the Speaker’s office in order to ensure that the apology is tendered in the House no later than the designated deadline,” she said.
Meanwhile, EFF MP Sinawo Thambo will also enter his apology on a separate matter on the same day as Malema.
Former DA chief whip George Michalakis had earlier this year lodged a complaint against Thambo for contempt of Parliament.
After the complaint was referred to the Powers and Privileges Committee upon receipt of an affidavit supporting the complaint from DA MP Kevin Mileham, Thambo was asked to provide a written response by May 8.
“Although Mr Thambo’s version of events differs from that of the complainant, Mr Thambo expressed his regret for any offence caused to the complainant and anyone associated with him,” Tikana-Gxotiwe said.
She said the committee has ordered that Thambo apologise to Mileham in the House by September 30 and that he should make all the necessary arrangements with the Speaker’s office for the apology to be tendered in the House.
