Former city judge a candidate for Concourt
A FORMER Kimberley judge has been selected as one of six judicial candidates to be interviewed for the Constitutional Court.
Judge Stevan Arnold Majiedt is one of the six candidates who will be interviewed by the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) during the interviews which will take place from the April 1 to 5 2019.
Judge Majiedt is currently a Judge at the Supreme Court of Appeal, a position to which he was appointed in 2010.
According to the biography on Judge Majiedt, provided by Judges Matter (described as a loose coalition of civil society organisations who believe in the importance of judges), Majiedt has had previous “issues” with one of the commissioners that was meant to be interviewing him for the Constitutional Court vacancy in October 2016, former Northern Cape Judge President Frans Kgomo.
“In 2006 the two judges were involved in an ugly racial spat after Kgomo overlooked Majiedt, the most senior judge in the division at the time, when proposing an acting replacement to the Justice Minister before going on leave.
“Following his decision, Kgomo then lodged a misconduct complaint against Majiedt with the Judicial Service Commission. This was apparently sparked by Majiedt allegedly sending Kgomo a text message accusing him of being a ‘sly, devious, conniving person but also a coward’, motivated by ‘sheer racism and malice towards him (Judge Majiedt)’.
“Majiedt then filed a counter-complaint of discrimination, nepotism and racism against Kgomo. The matter was reportedly settled by the commission without any of the judges involved being found guilty of an impeachable offence,” Judges Matter stated.
Majiedt has acted at the Constitutional Court from January to May 2014 during which time he heard 11 cases.
He was on a panel of Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) judges who overturned the North Gauteng High Court’s culpable homicide verdict against athlete Oscar Pistorius – the SCA, instead, found Pistorius guilty of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
Other judgments on his CV include the 2014 Constitutional Court ruling in National Commissioner of the SAPS v Southern Africa Litigation Centre. While acting at the Constitutional Court Majiedt penned a unanimous judgment which found that the South African Police Service was obligated, under domestic and international law, to investigate crimes against humanity and torture allegedly committed in Zimbabwe by state officials. The matter related to incidents of violence allegedly perpetrated against Movement for Democratic Change activists in the build-up to the country’s 2007 elections. It is considered a landmark judgment in terms of universal jurisdiction.
Fifty-five-year-old Majiedt, who was nominated by senior counsel Norman Arendse and Vincent Maleka, graduated with an LLB from the University of the Western Cape in 1983. He served as an advocate at the Cape Bar from 1984 to 1996 and as the Chief Provincial State Law Adviser to the Northern Cape government from 1997 to 2000. He was appointed to the Northern Cape High Court in 2000 and the Supreme Court of Appeal in December 2010.
The other candidates for the Constitution Court position are Judge Annali Christelle Basson, Judge Patricia Lynette Goliath, Judge Narandran Jody Kollapen, Judge Fayeeza Kathree-setiloane and Judge Zukisa Laura Lumka Tshiqi.
In addition, the JSC will interview nine candidates for the Supreme Court of Appeal as well as other vacancies at the Labour Court, the Eastern Cape Division of the High Court, and the Northern Cape Division of the High Court.