Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe breaks silence amid impeachment

“I’D RATHER be a free man in my grave than live as a puppet,” says Western Cape High Court Judge President John Hlophe.

He broke his silence for the first time after the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) recommended that he be impeached for gross misconduct.

While his lawyer Barnabas Xulu, said they had not yet received the report, he responded to a media enquiry yesterday with a video clip in which Judge Hlophe said: “I think the enemy works as follows: They try to co-opt you. If they succeed, they will use you. You become a shining example because at that point you are just their spokesman. I’d rather be a free man in my grave than live as a puppet. So you become a puppet and they control you. And I’m not one of those people.”

The impeachment recommendation follows the Judicial Conduct Tribunal’s finding that Judge Hlophe is guilty of trying to influence the outcome of former president Jacob Zuma’s corruption charges in 2008.

The tribunal’s report stated that Judge Hlophe breached sections of the Constitution when he tried to influence two justices of the Constitutional Court.

The judges had claimed that Judge Hlophe had attempted to influence Justice Chris Jafta and Justice Bess Nkabinde to rule in a particular manner in a pending judgment between Zuma and the National Prosecuting Authority.

Judge Hlophe risks becoming the first judge to be removed from office since 1994.

The JSC in a statement on Wednesday said they would uphold the report and recommendations of the Judicial Conduct Tribunal handed down on April 9, 2021, and referred the matter to the National Assembly for a decision.

“The National Assembly and the parties will be furnished with copies of both the majority and minority views.

“In line with the principles of natural justice, the JSC has invited the parties to show cause why it should or should not advise the president to suspend Judge President Hlophe pending the finalisation of the matter by the National Assembly,” the statement read.

Parliamentary spokesperson Moloto Mothapo yesterday said they were yet to receive the report and would only be able to process it thereafter.

“The report of the JSC hasn’t arrived with us, (it is) difficult to comment on it now or process …

“Only after receipt will Parliament know how it’ll process it,” said Motapo.