Hlophe a victim by choice
There are times when it seems like the “nine wasted years” is something that South Africa should simply toss in the bin of things to be forgotten. No one wants to constantly return to traumatic events. But every now and then an event occurs that reminds the country how close it came to the edge of the abyss. The impeachment of one Yahya John Mandlakayise Hlophe, making him the first judge president to be impeached in the history of SA’s democracy, is one such event. Judge Nkola Motata was to follow shortly thereafter but by comparison, his impeachment did not move the needle of the scales of justice.
Hlophe is the biggest casualty of the Jacob Zuma era. According to evidence presented to Judicial Service Commission (JSC), Hlophe had tried– unsuccessfully – to influence judges of the Constitutional Court to rule in favour of Jacob Zuma in his corruption case.
He had approached Justices Jafta and Nkabinde separately and tried to influence the outcome of Zuma’s case. When the two realised what was happening and approached the late Chief Justice Pius Langa, he then brought this to the attention of the JSC – and that was the beginning of a defence that perhaps set the blueprint for Zuma’s Stalingrad legal tactics. It was to take 15 years for Hlophe to finally come face to face with his fate and fall from grace.
In one of the most telling moments of the impeachment vote, former public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane of the Economic Freedom Fighters, who herself was removed from office in much the same manner as Hlophe was being removed, put up a spirited last-minute defence of Hlophe. Her diatribe sought to make Hlophe’s removal from the bench a racist act of the “dominant liberal and racist discourse that seeks to impale black people” who stand up against it.
It must have been a low moment in Hlophe’s battle to stay on the bench that he had to be defended by a former public protector who had been removed from office for, among other things, incompetence.
Although Hlophe did use the race card in his Stalingrad tactics over the years, it cannot be a good look that the racism card Mkhwebane whipped out failed and that she was herself impeached by parliament.
The truth is Hlophe didn’t make it to the bench by chance, he is a brilliant legal scholar, appointed to the bench by another world-celebrated legal eagle, Nelson Mandela.
He did not become judge president of the Western Cape without displaying his brilliance, so to now be defended by a former public protector who had once been said to be incompetent and dishonest in a high court ruling – confirmed by the Constitutional Court – must have stung.
It is also worth noting that there might have been some basis for citing racism as part of the things he faced daily as judge president – but to cite racism as the reason he found himself facing impeachment is disingenuous.
For his and Mkhwebane’s assertions of racism to hold water, then Chief Justice Pius Langa, Justice Bess Nkabinde, Justice Chris Jafta and even Judge Dunstan Mlambo are part of a huge and intricate racist conspiracy that targeted one of South Africa’s finest legal minds. Impossible.
Hlophe was simply a victim of Zuma’s era by choice. Only he can explain why he chose the wrong side of history and had the ignominy of becoming the first judge to be impeached in democratic SA.