Candidates grilled for JSC vacancies

THE second week of interviews for the country's top courts was dominated by questions about judges’ temperaments, transformation and issues at the tax courts.

The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) set its task of interviewing dozens of candidates for a second week yesterday.

It recommended Judge Roland Sutherland to be appointed as deputy judge president (DJP) for Gauteng, a division with the most demanding case load. Judge Sutherland was the only candidate to stand for the role.

He has been a judge since 2012 and has acted in the DJP role since 2019. In his most notable case recently, he denied former Gauteng health MEC Bandile Masuku's bid to challenge a Special Investigating Unit PPE probe against him.

.Commissioner Thamsanqa Dodovu questioned Judge Sutherland as to whether he knew of corrupt judges and whether recent claims made against judges as being corrupt were true.

Judge Sutherland took a cautious approach in his answer, saying he had never met a corrupt judge. He said it was possible that judges could be corruptible, but recent claims made against judges were unsubstantiated.

“With the information available to me, it (claims against judges) is unsubstantiated.

“If you want to say Judge Sutherland is corrupt, the least you can do is to say why,” the judge said.

His appointment will be confirmed by President Cyril Ramaphosa, along with a string of other nominations.

The JSC is also conducting interviews for several roles in the Gauteng High Court division.

Advocate Allyson Ashley Crutchfield, who is vying for a judge position in Gauteng, has acted as a judge in the high court division for several weeks.

She was questioned on delayed judgments and how they hampered justice for those affected.

“Judgments should not be delayed and justice needs to be seen to be done … I come from practice and I know what the costs of appeals are and I try to weigh both,” she said.

Judge Nelisa Mali motivated her move to Gauteng as an opportunity to bring changes she had made to the tax courts.

She highlighted that the tax court was often burdened with commercial court members who often lacked experience in tax matters.

Advocate Petrus Malindi, who is also standing for a Gauteng High Court position, was asked about judicial temperament .“Judges must see their role as people who stand above petty squabbles. Theirs is not to show off on their understanding,” Judge Malindi said.