South Africa’s Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi has issued an apology to the United Nations and withdrawn an unauthorised legal action after a ministry official attempted to serve court papers on UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese without ministerial approval.
The incident occurred on Saturday evening when a sheriff approached Albanese, who serves as the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, with a summons allegedly initiated by Christian Friends of Israeli Communities and Christians for Israel USA.
The summons was issued without the required clearance from either the minister or the director general of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development.
According to a statement from the ministry on Sunday, the service of process violated Section 40(2) of South Africa’s legal procedures, which mandates that any civil process request from a foreign entity must be transmitted through the director general and approved by the minister before being executed.
“The attempt to serve Ms Albanese did not comply with the required prescripts,” the ministry said.
Kubayi, currently attending a UN conference in Vietnam, has instructed the withdrawal of the summons and called for an “internal consequence management process” to address the breach.
She extended apologies to Albanese, the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the United Nations.
JN/APA