Cachalia berates nomination of Hlophe, Malema
The JSC had increasingly abused its power and become captured by political interests, warned retired SCA Justice Azhar Cachalia, adding it alone was not only at fault.
According to a Daily Dispatch report, he said some judges had also acquiesced while some senior lawyers with vested interests had not only watched but also ‘been complicit’ in this.
Delivering a public lecture at Rhodes University’s law faculty, Cachalia said the result of the ‘combined conduct of these malevolent actors, often aided and abetted by the insipid among them, has been a loss of public confidence in the JSC, an institution that is vital to ensure the competence of the judiciary and protect its independence from political and other interests’.
He warned that these politicians imperilled the rule of law.
Cachalia said it had been expected that the seventh Parliament would improve how the JSC and other independent institutions functioned. But this was not to be.
Instead, it had approved the appointment of two highly unsuitable candidates, EFF leader Julius Malema and impeached former Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe, to serve on the JSC.
The public lecture was entitled Is the Judicial Service Commission ‘fit for purpose?, notes the Daily Dispatch report.
The answer from Cachalia after a devastating reflection on its work over 15 years was a resounding ‘no’.
He said Malema has consistently abused his authority on the JSC and had been found guilty of breaching the MP’S Code of Conduct.
Speaker Thoko Didiza had also been ill advised to find that there was no requirement on Parliament to appoint people to the JSC that were ‘fit and proper,’ for the purpose.
This had been Didiza’s response to questions raised over Hlophe’s suitability.
‘The National Assembly thus proceeded to select Hlophe to serve on the JSC – the very body that found him guilty of gross misconduct and unfit to be a judge. As a member of the JSC, he will now have to decide whether candidates for judicial office meet the high ethical standards to be appointed as judges – standards that he felt no need to adhere to as a judge. This is akin to asking the fox to guard the henhouse.’
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
