Underdog Kollapen gets nod

On Tuesday, the Judicial Service Commission said it had recommended Supreme Court of Appeal justices Leona Theron, Stevan Majiedt and Malcolm Wallis, and Jody Kollapen, a high court judge in Pretoria, for the Constitutional Court. President Jacob Zuma will appoint one of them.

The commission interviewed five candidates and its job was to cull one. Initially, Kollapen was thought to be on the back foot as the only high court judge — and the only candidate not to have acted at the Constitutional Court.

But the former chairperson of the South African Human Rights Commission had a good interview, demonstrating a strong knowledge of constitutional jurisprudence and a long-held commitment to constitutional values.

He recounted an exchange he had while at the human rights commission. The man said: “Mr Kollapen, you are very passionate about human rights, but that is because it works for you. When it works for me, I will be as passionate about it as you are.”

Kollapen said: “That was a sobering comment, but not an unfair observation.”

Appeal court Justice Boissie Mbha — who was culled by the JSC — had a difficult interview. He was grilled at length about whether judges should speak in public, first categorically saying no and then having to backpedal when he was scrutinised further. He also apparently failed to impress commissioner Julius Malema with his answer on the difference between the government and the state, saying: “If you talk about state you talk of government, the country, the people, for that matter. But when you talk of government, you are talking of governance; the two are different.”