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119 S. African L.J. 560 (2002)
Reminiscences of Bench and Bar Mainly of the Free State

handle is hein.journals/soaf119 and id is 598 raw text is: THE SOUTH AFRICAN LAW JOURNAL REMINISCENCES OF BENCH AND BAR MAINLY OF THE FREE STATE edited by P M NIENABER Judge of Appeal and ELLISON KAHN Professor Emeritus of Law, University of the Witwatersrand,Johannesburg II MR JUSTICE MARK ERNEST KUMLEBEN IN CONVERSATION WITH HIS COLLEAGUE MR JUSTICE PETRUS MILLAR NIENABER IN BLOEMFONTEIN IN AUGUST 19961 Now, Mark, we last spoke about your Bar days in Durban in April. It is now August in Bloemfontein. There were one or two matters that were left in the air. We talked about Rudolf Erasmus, remember, and you told me a few stories about him.2 Are there any others that you can recall? - Well, I do remember one occasion when somebody came into the common room and said that he'd been Rudolf's junior and at the end of their consultation Rudolf said, 'I think we've got a sitter here'. He was quite surprised, because the matter didn't seem clear-cut at all, and he said, 'Really, Rudolf?', and Rudolf replied, 'Yes, we're just going to have to sit and sit and work at this case if we want to get anywhere'. What about that other story - safe as what? - Oh, yes. The wife of a Mr Coaker from Ladybrand, who had a cosmetic factory there, was divorcing him, and Rudolf was acting for her, again with a junior. She told her whole story, and at the end of the consultation, to reassure her, Rudolf said, 'Mrs Coaker, don't worry, our case is as safe as a house on fire'. Well, let's leave the Erasmusiana there. Another name we mentioned frequently was Solly Miller.3 I recall your telling me a story that when he arrived in Natal he had a contretemps with, I think, Brian Burne, a member of the Natal Bench. - Yes. Soon after Solly had gone to Natal I asked him how he'd been welcomed. 'Very warmly', he answered. 'But some members of the Bench had some rather peculiar ideas.' As you may remember, all the judges foregathered in the passage before going into court at the old Maritzburg Supreme Court, now an art gallery. On one occasion Brian Burne said that he wasn't prepared to go into court with Solly. Solly was suitably astonished, saying, 'Why not?', and Burne replied 'Because you're wearing ' The bulk of this interview took place in August 1996 but I have integrated, for the sake of continuity and context, some excerpts from a later follow-up interview ofjanuary 1999.- PMN. The previous interview was published as Part I in (2002) 119 SALJ at 223. On Mr Justice Kumleben, see op cit at 224 note 2 and on Mr Justice Nienaber loc cit note 3. 2 See Part I above at 236-7. 3 See Part I above at 225-6, especially note 6.

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