How the NPA's parallel appeals created a legal quagmire

The simultaneous applications not in interest of justice

- By Setumo Stone

Two identical appeal processes in two different courts is unfair to Moroadi Cholota's legal rights, says her lawyer.

(/Gallo Images)

The Constitutional Court stepped in as the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) almost buried Ace Magashule's ex-PA, Moroadi Cholota, under a mountain of legal paperwork by launching two identical appeals in the country's highest courts.

The court's intervention was a response to a letter Cholota's lawyers wrote to Chief Justice Mandisa Maya on August 28, describing the NPA's move as "a most egregious abuse of process", and pointing out that it would cripple their client financially if she answered the same case simultaneously before the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) and the Constitutional Court.

"It is our humble submission, Chief Justice, that this is a most egregious abuse of process devoid of proper consideration for the ramifications (financial and otherwise) on Ms Cholota," lawyer Piet Tibane protested.