Last month JSC spokesperson Dali Mpofu SC said the JSC was treating the Hlophe tribunal’s findings like any other. That he would allocate to himself ‘such a manifestly politically charged case, the very next working day after the (JSC) meeting, certainly suggests that he assumes there will not be any conclusive decisions taken against him,’ she is quoted as saying in the Sunday Times. ‘Those two judges could come to two different conclusions in the case and it would have to be restarted.’įreedom Under Law’s Nicole Fritz said Hlophe’s presiding in this case was ‘very concerning’. comes out with a decision to suspend JP Hlophe, or uphold the tribunal’s guilty finding, it would be disruptive to the hearing of the PP case (and) it might even have to be postponed.’ Benjamin said even with two other judges sitting with Hlophe, the risk would not be averted. On the Public Protector case, Mbekezeli Benjamin, of judicial advocacy group Judges Matter, said the Superior Courts Act gives Judge Presidents discretion in allocating cases and, while there was a practice of JPs allocating ‘politically sensitive’ cases to themselves, ‘in the circumstances of this case, it would have been preferable for the JP to allocate another senior judge’. On the Friday before that, 4 June, the JSC is scheduled to decide whether Hlophe should face impeachment proceedings in Parliament, after a Judicial Conduct Tribunal found him guilty of gross misconduct for attempting to influence a Constitutional Court judgment in favour of Jacob Zuma.Īccording to the Constitution and the JSC Act, the tribunal’s finding must be confirmed by the JSC before it can be referred to Parliament. Hlophe’s registrar, Lizette Potgieter, reportedly told the Sunday Times that the judges who had been allocated to the Mkhwebane case were Hlophe, Elizabeth Baartman and Mokgoatji Dolamo. The case will begin one court day after the JSC meets to consider whether Hlophe is guilty of gross misconduct and should face impeachment. Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe is to preside at Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s legal challenge to the rules governing her impeachment process.
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