Dali Mpofu, a high-profile advocate more known for fighting political battles, will represent Kagiso Rabada in his appeal against a two-Test ban.

Mpofu, a prominent member of the EFF, who is well known for his work in dealing with significant cases such as representing the Marikana miners and Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille in an action against the DA, will argue Rabada’s case in front of  a judicial commissioner, who is yet to be appointed by the ICC.

Rabada was banned for two Tests after picking up a total of eight demerit points, three of which came from an incident involving Steve Smith in the second Test in Port Elizabeth.

‘We have appointed Advocate Mpofu to handle Kagiso’s case,’ said Thabang Moroe, CSA’s acting CEO. ‘He is a highly experienced advocate who was appointed by the President to serve on the Judicial Service Commission last year.’

Mpofu’s first task will be to convince the judicial commissioner to put Rabada’s two-Test suspension on hold to enable him to play the Newlands Test, which starts on 22 March. The appeal hearing must be held on or before 23 March.

Rabada is on nine demerit points after picking up four demerit points in total during the Port Elizabeth Test. He is only attempting to be cleared of three of those points, picked up when he made contact with Steven Smith’s shoulder when Rabada dismissed the Australian captain in the first innings. Rabada went into the fixture on five demerit points and reached the threshold of eight, which equates to a two-Test ban.

Photo: Mduduzi Ndzingi/Gallo Images