Judge Thulare must vacate state home, apologise and repay rental shortfall - IOL

In a scathing order, Western Cape High Court Judge Daniel Thulare has been directed to vacate a state-owned four-bedroom house within one month and repay the difference between the rent he paid and the property’s market-related rental value.

The order, issued in a Judicial Conduct Committee process overseen by Justice Steven Majiedt, also requires Thulare to publish an apology in two national newspapers and calls on the Chief Justice to reprimand him.

The order reveals that Thulare had been served with two notices to vacate the state property located in Plantanus Street, Kuils River, and that the rent payable under the lease was R900 per month. The lease did not renew automatically.

On Thursday, Judge Thulare's registrar said: “The Judge accepts the decision and will not challenge it.”

In February, the Democratic Alliance (DA) formally lodged a complaint with the Judicial Conduct Committee against Thulare, a sitting judge of the Western Cape High Court. The party said this followed more than a year of sustained engagement with the Minister of Justice over his unlawful occupation of a state-owned residence.

The complaint was brought by DA MP, Nicholas Gotsell who is also a member of the Select Committee on Security and Justice.

The order further states that the property consists of a four-bedroom house owned by the national government.

The National Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) is the custodian of all land owned by the national government under section 4(1)(a) of the Government Immovable Asset Management Act 19 of 2007.

The Western Cape High Court Judge Daniel Thulare.

The order, handed down on November 11 states that Judge Thulare accepted appointment first as Chief Magistrate in the Western Cape  in 2016, and later as a Judge in the same Province in 2022. According to him, “the use of the state house, a fringe benefit available in [the DoJ] , became a  necessity and a security tool”. 

The court heard that an addendum to the lease agreement existed, which covered the lease after its expiry on 31 October 2018. In terms of that addendum, the lease would not end on the specified date but would end “in the other ordinary course of provisions of the lease agreement. 

“Judge Thulare alludes to the fact that, historically, Judges enjoyed the benefit of state housing, where available, before and after 1994,” the court papers read.  

“Judge Thulare contends that, like the benefit of the use of a state vehicle, the benefit of state housing, outside the Province of the division in which a Judge was appointed, are benefits which judges historically enjoyed even though there was no express provision thereof in the Judicial Regulatory Instruments...

“He contends further that the lease agreement contains no provision linking occupation of the property to the office of Chief Magistrate of Cape Town. 

“He therefore disputes  that he was required by the lease agreement to return vacant possession of the property in 2018 or at any time thereafter to date. 

“Judge Thulare disputes the allegation that he is receiving and enjoying a benefit from the state to which he is not entitled,” extracts from the court papers read.

Judge Thulare previously made headlines when he raised the alarm in 2022, during the bail application of the 28s Mobsters gang, in which he said that “evidence suggested that the senior management of the SAPS had been penetrated to the extent that the 28s gang had access to the table where the Provincial Commissioner of the SAPS in the Western Cape sits with his senior managers leads them to study of crime.”

The Western Cape Police Ombudsman’s reported that the alleged gang infiltration of the police should form part of the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry. Western Cape Premier Alan Winde released his findings, while the Ombudsman concluded that a threat assessment be conducted. A conviction was reached in the matter, with sentencing on the cards.

According to the order made against Judge Thulare, he is to apologise to the South African public in terms of section 17(8)(g) of the Judicial Service Commission Act, read with section 17(8)(a) thereof, through notices in two nationally circulating newspapers, to be published at his expense within one month of the date of the order.

The court also ordered that he is to pay the state the difference between the market rental value of the property and the rental he actually paid, from the date of his appointment as a judge in 2022 until the date that he vacates or has vacated the property, with interest under the Prescribed Rate of Interest Act 55 of 1975.

He is also ordered to vacate the property within one month of the date of the order.

The Chief Justice is requested to reprimand Judge Thulare in terms of section 17(8)(b) of the Act, the order reads.

In response to the findings, Gotsell said he welcomed it.

“The DA welcomes the damning ruling by Justice Majiedt which found Judge Thulare guilty of wilful judicial misconduct following the DA's complaint to the Judicial Conduct Committee over his unlawful occupation of a State-owned house,” he said.

“After more than a year of parliamentary questions, correspondence and persistent efforts to secure accountability, this ruling vindicates our determination that nobody, regardless of their position, is above the law.

“Justice Majiedt did not mince his words. He described Judge Thulare's defences as having bordered on the absurd and border on the ludicrous, finding that he deliberately ignored two official notices to vacate and knowingly continued occupying a State house to which he was not entitled. The ruling found his conduct improper, creating an appearance of impropriety, and undermining public confidence in the judiciary.

“This is particularly damning for a judge who sits in judgment over others, enforces contracts and orders the eviction of unlawful occupiers, yet deliberately disregarded the very legal principles he is entrusted to uphold.

“The greatest victory for South Africans is that Judge Thulare has been ordered to vacate the property within one month, potentially sparing the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure and taxpayers further costly eviction proceedings.

“Equally significant is the order that he compensate the fiscus for the benefit he unlawfully enjoyed since 2022, by repaying the difference between market-related rental and what he actually paid, with interest. He must also apologise publicly, at his own expense, and the Chief Justice has been requested to reprimand him.”

The lease agreement for the property terminated in 2018, but Judge Thulare failed to return vacant possession to the state, as required by the lease agreement.

“He has received at least two notices to vacate the property. This, according to the complainant, constitutes a wilful, or at least grossly negligent, breach of the Code of Judicial Conduct (the Code),2and an appropriate ground for a complaint under section 14(4)(b) of the Act,” the papers read.

Gotsell said in his complaint, as detailed in the order’s background, that Judge Thulare was receiving a benefit from the state, at taxpayers’ expense, to which no other Judge is entitled. 

Gotsell via a parliamentary question called on the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development’s response. The minister conceded that this continued occupation after Judge  Thulare’s appointment was an administrative lapse. 

The Minister also advised that Judge Thulare was served a notice on 24 March 2025 to vacate the property within 30 days, that is, by April 24, 2025. He was given a further final notice to vacate the property by June 6, 2025.