Dr.Paul Ngobeni has been fired by UCT

I was not completely shocked but nevertheles suprised that UCT has parted ways with Dr. Paul Ngobeni. This is a man who is currently in the headlines for being part of the Zuma Brains Trust, a group of well known "thinkers" who supported the cause of Jacob Zuma during his difficult legal battles.

He is also in the headlines recently for advocating for the appointment of the embattled Cape Judge President, John Hlophe to be appointed to the constitutional court. He is feisty man, who fights for his point of view. I was suprised that UCT appointed him into their law faculty given his reputation in the US where he studied and practised law. He apparently had 7 judgements of misconduct to his name while in the US and there are mentions about his fugitive status, which i cannot really vouch for except that i can say...check this out.

Now I must admit that I enjoy listening to Paul Ngobeni. He makes some good points and he scratches hard, sometimes where it hurts the most. I was however suspicious of his surfacing from the US to suddenly being the number one supporter of JZ, it looked very self-serving and self-promoting, making the right noises, populist noises at the time. But he won the day, his side won, JZ is now the president of this country. When it comes his stance John Hlophe case I am completely against his views. Forcing Judge Hlophe to the highest court in the land simply to spite racists can never be good for the judiciary.

Ngobeni has already accused the principal of UCT of hypocrisy and some of his old colleagues of being a racist gang. Now we know that UCT and many other such institutions are not perfect, but one has to be careful who is crying foul and why. Paul Ngobeni is the type that digs up conspiracy theories that require a lot of concentration before one can agree. He is interesting but shoots from the hip when you least expect it. He brands people racist too quickly for my liking, men such as these make me very suspicious.

But I tell you one thing, whenever this guy is on radio, i can't help but tune in. He is well spoken and real fun, seriously. However on TV he looks funny, his face is detached or lost at times, overweight, looks very subdued until he speaks. He is here to stay, I am sure there are a lot of politicians who will be clamouring for Paul Ngobeni to be on their side.