Demand that JSC must restart Concourt interview process

The Johannesburg high court will hold a case management meeting to set out timelines for the application by the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (Casac) to set aside the recent recommendations for appointment to the Constitutional Court.

Casac executive secretary Lawson Naidoo said South Gauteng Deputy Judge President Ronald Sutherland called the meeting for last Thursday but it was postponed because the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) had not yet appointed counsel, and that it will be rescheduled.

Naidoo said it was encouraging though that the court appeared ready to afford a sense of urgency to the application.

The JSC is understood to have briefed advocate Marumo Moerane on the matter, which sees Casac argue that the recent interviews for judges to fill two vacancies at the highest court were compromised by blatant politicking, undermining the independence of the judiciary as guaranteed in section 178 of the constitution.

The application is unprecedented. Casac is demanding that the JSC restart the interview process it conducted

in April and to ensure that this time questioning remains within acceptable bounds. “Candidates are entitled to an open-minded panel.

They are also entitled to fair, consistent and equal treatment,” Naidoo notes in his founding affidavit in the application. “If there was unfairness

or an irregularity in respect of any candidate, the decision to nominate all candidates falls too.”

President Cyril Ramaphosa is listed as the second respondent in the matter, and is understood to have instructed junior counsel, in what could be a sign the presidency may file a notice of intention to abide by the court’s decision.

The JSC has forwarded the names of judges Rammaka Mathopo, Fayeeza Kathree-setiloane, Jody Kollapen, Mahube Molemela and Bashier Vally for selection of two to fill vacancies at the highest court. Two more loom later this year when justices Sisi Khampepe and Chris Jafta are set to retire.

There have been rumblings about the treatment of candidates before, but politics intruded in a particularly egregious manner this time when Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema launched an attack on the Kwazulu-natal high court Judge Dhayanithie Pillay, accusing her of abusing her position to fight political battles. Outgoing Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng did not call Malema to order, but weighed in with an anecdote suggesting that Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan had previously sought to intercede on behalf of Pillay.

The JSC recently refused Casac’s request to release the recordings of its deliberations that resulted in the nomination of the five judges.

Photo: Paul Botes Caught in the crossfire: Judge Dhayanithie Pillay was one of the candidates interviewed y the JSC in April to flll two vacancies at the Constitutional Court, although she did not make the shortlist.