When Adv Tembeka Ngcukaitobi missteps, the fall is loud

Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, SC, is not a man one expects to see publicly corrected - certainly not in the manner witnessed at the Madlanga Commission. Yet there it was: a moment both jarring and instructive, a reminder that brilliance and stature offer no immunity from miscalculation, misjudgment, or misalignment of values. That public corrective moment was not flattering for a senior advocate of his stature, and it has left many wondering whether he has momentarily lost the very steadiness that made him formidable.

It was not what one expects of a jurist of his calibre. What unfolded instead resembled a lack of preparation, a surprising lapse in judgment, and a strategic play that bordered on underhanded - a risky ambush that did not land.

A moment of stumble - And what it suggests

When Minister Mchunu confidently testified that Mrs Sarah Burger was arrested by the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT) and detained for days on corruption charges later withdrawn, the Commission drilled down. The source - a News24 article - was parsed line by line, exposing that the arrest cited was not by the PKTT at all, but by the Hawks. A factual fracture so fundamental that even an average cross-examiner could have caught it, let alone one of Ngcukaitobi's pedigree.

If Mchunu's testimony was built on shaky factual ground, then the duty to test that ground lay squarely with his legal counsel. That raises the question: did Advocate Ngcukaitobi thoroughly verify the evidence he leaned on? Or did he take a narrative at face value, without lifting the hood on the very document that later collapsed in public view?

Because the second blow was worse - a glaring contradiction in the Minister's justification for disbanding the PKTT. According to what was highlighted, the affidavit of Sarah Burger which the Minister supposedly relied upon was signed nine months after the unit had already been dissolved. If true, that is not just inconvenient - it's structurally devastating to the argument.

And then came the tactical overreach.

Adv Ngcukaitobi attempted to re-examine the Minister on evidence that had not yet been led - evidence expressly deferred to January 2026. It was an irregular manoeuvre, one that walked perilously close to a procedural ambush. In stepped Adv Mahlape Sello, SC, who halted the attempt sharply, firmly, publicly. It was clinical. It was necessary. And it was humiliating.

This was not a small stumble. It was a televised unravelling - and the silence in the room was heavy.

When giants slip, the ground trembles

Adv Ngcukaitobi is no ordinary lawyer. His name carries weight - constitutional cases, land reform litigation, social justice credentials. He has been, in many ways, a symbol of principled advocacy.

Which is why this moment matters.

When legal minds of such stature choose to align themselves with questionable strategies or controversial clients, it is not their intellect that fades - it is the integrity of their judgment. History is littered with brilliant lawyers who defended causes that stained rather than elevated their legacies.

We need not look far. Michael Cohen, once a razor-sharp powerhouse in U.S. legal politics, became the poster-child for how association, ambition, and moral compromise can rot a career from the inside out. His brilliance never disappeared - only his ethical bearings did.

Skill does not protect you from ethical erosion.

The Lesson in the moment

Adv Ngcukaitobi's misstep at the Commission does not erase his accomplishments. Nor does it render him incapable. But it does serve as a cautionary reminder - not only to him, but to the legal fraternity at large.

Because sometimes downfall does not arrive through loss of skill - it arrives through loss of compass.

A lawyer's relevance is not sustained by intellect alone, but by discipline, preparation, credibility and moral clarity. When these weaken, even the brightest stars dim. When ambition overshadows integrity, public trust withdraws.

And when the record corrects you, live, for all to see - the fall is not simply professional. It is reputational.

Brilliant legal minds stumble not when they forget the law, but when they forget why the law matters.

In the end, it is not power, stature or eloquence that preserves a legacy - it is the courage to stay principled when strategy whispers shortcuts.

The bar is watching. The public is watching. And history always remembers what we choose to stand for - and what we choose to stand beside.