JSC interviews to progress as MK bid to halt them dismissed – The Mail & Guardian

The MK Party applied to stop the JSC interviews as it wanted impeached former Western Cape judge president John Hlope (left) to be allowed to be part of the panel that will interview future judges.
(Photo by Luba Lesolle/Gallo Images via Getty Images)

The uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party’s attempt to halt the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) interviews scheduled for next week was dismissed on Saturday at the Johannesburg high court. 

This comes after the party applied to stop the interviews as it wanted impeached former Western Cape judge president John Hlope to be allowed to be part of the panel that will interview future judges.

Hlophe would be the parliamentary leader of the MK during the interviews. On Friday, his lawyer, advocate Vuyani Ngalwana SC, asserted that Hlophe was “one of the most maligned individuals in the country” after the newly-minted MP was impeached earlier this year, and refused a seat on the JSC. 

Last week, the Western Cape high court prohibited Hlophe from participating in the interviews as he awaits the outcome of legal challenges to the decision to designate him as a member of the JSC. 

The party then wrote to the JSC requesting a postponement of the interviews, but was refused and so turned to the court with an urgent application. 

This was dismissed. 

The Mail & Guardian previously reported that Hlophe was removed from the bench in March after a disciplinary process spanning almost 16 years, sparked by his attempts to sway constitutional court judges in favour of Jacob Zuma in cases related to the arms deal corruption charges against the former president, who now leads the MK party.

“The appointment of Dr Hlophe to the JSC will inevitably undermine the independence, dignity and effectiveness of our courts,” the Western Cape court said last week.