On the 28th of October 2025, the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) resolved to uphold a recommendation from the Judicial Conduct Committee (JCC) to establish a Judicial Conduct Tribunal (JCT) that will investigate the complaint lodged against Judge Lekale.
On the 31st January 2025, Judge President Cagney Musi of the Free State High Court lodged a formal complaint with the JSC following Judge Lekale failing to perform his judicial functions for a period of six years due to ill health. The complaint was filed against Judge Lekale based on s14 of the JSC Act, of which s14(4)(a) deals with the ground of incapacity giving rise to a judge’s inability to perform their judicial functions.
Judge Lekale was appointed to the bench on the 1st of January 2012, meaning that he was only an active judge for a maximum of 8 years before his ill-health resulted in a continuous failure to complete his judicial duties.
The complaint was processed in terms of s16(1)(a) of the JSC Act and was referred to the JCC to determine whether a JCT should be established. Following a meeting of the JCC on the 29th of April 2025, in terms of s16(2) of the JSC Act, the JCC recommended that a tribunal needs to be established to investigate the complaint.
Read: Full JSC statement here.