Ballem needs all the support he can get

The decision by the Cape Bar Council — to request advocate Nehemiah Ballem to refrain from practising law pending the outcome of an investigation into his crude remarks to Western Cape High Court Judge Lee Bozalek — is hardly surprising.

Ballem, while being questioned by the judge about his late arrival at court, replied in Afrikaans: “Jou ma se p**s, man, f**k you!”

This must however be seen in context as set out in one of our previous articles.

What is clear is that this young man is under enormous pressure and if advocate Charles Simon is correct about a suicide attempt in mid-February then the investigation needs to be handled with the utmost care and tact by the Bar Council if a tragedy is to be avoided.

According to reports they are to appoint a two-person disciplinary committee to investigate the complaint and report back within 10 days. However advocate Simon told Times Live that Ballem is seeing a psychiatrist.

It is inconceivable — unless this has been an ongoing process over a substantial period of time — that a diagnosis would be available at this time.

What appears to be common knowledge is that he was a prosecutor in Goodwood who decided to go private and was admitted to the Cape Bar in July 2003. This means that he would be acutely aware of the requirements expected of an officer of the courts.

In other words what transpired before Judge Bozalek would have been an aberration — known to Ballem — and like the purported suicide attempt, in all probability a cry for help.

Prosecutors who go private can be successful but this is more the exception than the rule.

I have noted reports which suggest that black advocates struggle to get work — and would not like to deal with that without more information — but it is not confined to them.

Many advocates struggle, sometimes without success, to break through.

Prosecutors, who switch, have an even harder task ahead of them because their colleagues have had a few years start. As I said above there are notable exceptions who do fabulously well but even they have to grind it out for a few years.

The result, as may well be the case with Ballem, is that a decent fellow is placed under enormous financial pressure while doing one of the most emotionally and physically draining jobs there is.

Each day involves racing around courts, consulting and returning or taking calls — most of which involve making decisions which impact on the lives of people in desperate trouble.

The integrity and dignity of our courts is vital to the process of the rule of law. This means that the Bar Council cannot — in any manner — condone the conduct of this young man.

However — as our magistrates are fond of saying — there may well be a compelling, mitigating factor in this case which requires that sanctions, while punitive, are not career-threatening.

The outcome of the process — surely — lies in the evidence of the psychiatrist rather than a strict reading of what was said. While the Bar Council is not compelled to take his advice it will be guided by it.

In the interim friends and family of Nehemiah need to rally around him and offer as much support and encouragement as they can while this process is taking place.

Considering the fact that he had been a prosecutor, acting on behalf of the community, their gratitude might not be misplaced right now.