The Constitution is clear: an impeached former President may not only be denied any benefits of that office, but may not serve in any public office again. Yet the same document does not impose a similar prohibition on a judge or head of a Chapter Nine institution who has been removed from office for gross misconduct.

As a result, former President Jacob Zuma’s MKP was within its rights to appoint impeached Judge John Hlophe as one of its MPs and its leader in the National Assembly.

But it is the party’s nomination of Hlophe as one of Parliament’s representatives on the JSC that has caused a public stir.

As previously reported, six civil society organisations – which include Freedom Under Law, Judges Matter, Defend our Democracy and the Helen Suzman Foundation – have written to the National Assembly expressing concern about Hlophe, who a few months ago was impeached as a judicial officer by the same House, being elected to sit on the body whose main responsibility is to select judges.

They note that it would be ‘irrational’ and ‘susceptible to legal challenge’ to elect Hlophe to the JSC while it is clear that such a move would, inter alia, undermine public confidence in the judicial appointments process.

A Sunday Times Daily editorial concurs with these sentiments expressed and notes that while those who nominated Hlophe were within their rights to do so, it would be advisable for them to replace his name with one that would be acceptable to all.

‘Given the seriousness of the duty on their shoulders, JSC members should be people who meet the highest moral and ethical standards. We agree with Council for the Advancement of the SA Constitution executive secretary Lawson Naidoo’s assertion that it would be “illogical and irrational” to have someone who has been “found guilty of gross misconduct by the JSC and impeached by Parliament to be appointed as a member of the JSC”. It seems obvious to us that those who have been found guilty of gross misconduct by a competent institution should not be considered for the JSC. It is high time that Parliament developed rules to prevent this from happening. Otherwise we run the risk of having, in future, individuals who have been deemed unsuitable to be judicial officers because of their misconduct, deciding who their replacements would be just by virtue of becoming MPs.’

Full Sunday Times Daily editorial (subscription needed)