Mogoeng to face council while on leave
OUTGOING Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng will have to use part of his three-and-a-half months long leave to deal with the Judicial Conduct Committee’s sanction that he apologises for his pro-Israel comments.
Mogoeng’s appeal against retired Gauteng Judge President Phineas Mojapelo findings will be considered by the committee next month at the Constitutional Court.
Judge Mojapelo ordered Mogoeng to publicly apologise and issue a retraction of the statements he made last year during a Jerusalem Post webinar, at which he claimed to be under an obligation as a Christian to love Israel and pray for Jerusalem’s peace, which he said meant the Middle Eastern country’s peace.
“If I curse Abraham and Israel, the almighty God will curse me too,” he said.
Mogoeng continued: “I cannot do anything, as a Christian, other than love and pray for Israel because I know hatred for Israel by me and for my nation can only attract unprecedented curses”.
In a letter dated April 30, the committee informed the three organisations that laid a complaint against Mogoeng – Africa4Palestine, Women’s Cultural Group and the SA Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Coalition that the country’s top judicial officer’s appeal would be heard on June 11.
The organisations have until next Friday to make written submissions in response to Mogoeng’s appeal, which was filed in March.
The Chief Justice’s office yesterday was forced to explain his long leave after eyebrows were raised by the move, with just five months left in his 12-year term at the apex court.
On Wednesday, Mogoeng’s office announced that he was taking long leave from May 1 after informing President Cyril Ramaphosa and Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola.
The judiciary’s spokesperson Nathi Mncube said regulations promulgated in terms of the Judges’ Remuneration and Conditions of Employment Act 2001 provided for judges to take leave of three-and-half-months for every period of four years’ actual service.
“This leave is referred to as long leave. The Chief Justice’s four-year cycle to take his long leave commenced on 1 July 2018, but he was unable to take it due to his judicial and extra judicial commitments,” Mncube said.
Justice Sisi Khampepe has been appointed to act in Mogoeng’s position as Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo is chairing the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture.
Mogoeng has previously taken long leave between the last term of 2013 and the first term of 2014.
At the time, former president Jacob Zuma appointed Retired Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke to act in his position.