UNRAVELLING MOOT THE BLACK-AND-BLUE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

Banathi Nkehli

On 2 March, PDBY was approached by an internal source within the UP Moot Society, ‘Shanks’, who blew the whistle on a series of concerns within the society with regard to favouritism and abusive coaching practices. These issues surfaced in the simulated court competition, WILLEM C. VIS INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION MOOT 2022/2023 (Vis), with Simon Augustyn, the coach, at the centre of many of the concerns. Shanks also cited the 2022 KOVSIE MOOT COURT COMPETITION, in which Coach Ruth Versfeld was implicated. Following a series of engagements with the society, PDBY found that there were indeed instances of abuse toward mooters in competitions; however, any finding on favouritism is inconclusive.

What is the Moot Society?

The UP Moot Society hosts and participates in a series of simulated court and arbitration proceedings. UP Moot is ranked first in South Africa, first in Africa and nineteenth in the world. The Chairperson of the UP Moot Society, Heinrich Nienaber, states, “We consider ourselves a world class African moot society, because we perform globally pretty well because we embrace the spirit of Ubuntu and inclusivity.” Such success does not come without sacrifice, external competitions coordinator Liam Bolton explained about Vis: “It’s standard to work until the early hours of the morning…you get so stressed. It’s just the pressure of public speaking.” Bolton’s comments apply to most external competitions the moot society participates in.

The black-and-blue elephant in the room – abusive practices within the society.

The KOVSIES Competition

According to Shanks, the KOVSIES Competition had two teams from the university participating. On the eve of the finals, the two teams were pitted against one another during a benching session. Of the two teams, only one had made it through to the finals. This benching session created a toxic space, as the team that had been eliminated was the “judge” and the team that had made it to the finals would be the ones making representations (arguments before a simulated court proceeding). Shanks remarked, “The [benching] team was upset about not having gone through to the finals. The first speaker wasn’t even given an opportunity to get through his arguments before being grilled with questions for 30 minutes, when this should have taken no longer than 15 minutes. The [benching] team even went as far as to say that they wouldn’t accept any of their arguments as they weren’t any good.” On this point, Bolton stated, “Thirty minutes is not normal… I believe it is normal to interrupt someone’s pleadings, but to go on for 30 minutes is quite harsh.”

Shanks continued, “The second speaker then said she refused to be grilled in the same manner… These two speakers were made to feel like their arguments were rubbish. Throughout this entire thing, Ruth did not intervene once.” Bolton clarified, “At the time, I think the facts were different, but I do agree that this was quite unnatural.” On these facts, Versfeld, as coach of the team being ‘grilled’, stated, “Both teams worked hard and produced high quality memorials; both teams spoke well. In competitions with more than one team, it is standard practice to have benching sessions with each other to maximise skills.”

PDBY made attempts to reach out to the two speakers on the receiving end of the ‘grilling’. However, Nienaber soon posted a message to the UP Moot WhatsApp group: “If anyone from PDBY approaches you, please don’t take a phone call and rather consult with me first.” Following this, PDBY has been unable to get them to speak on this version of events.

The Vis Competition

The team during this competition is said to have