Cape Town - A lawyer for Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe says they are keen to proceed with a tribunal into alleged judicial misconduct as soon as possible.
About a year ago, the work of the tribunal was postponed indefinitely.
This was because two Constitutional Court justices sought to challenge the lawfulness of the tribunal.
In a judgment handed down last week, the Gauteng Division of the High Court, sitting in Johannesburg, dismissed the case lodged by Justices Bess Nkabinde and Chris Jafta.
The high court decision paves the way for the tribunal to get under way - but it is understood that the justices still have some time to indicate whether they intend to appeal. If they appeal, this would further delay the tribunal proceedings.
Barnabas Xulu, an attorney for Judge Hlophe, said they were ready to proceed as they had always been.
“We’re very, very interested in seeing it proceed as soon as possible so we can clear our client and move on,” he said.
Judge Hlophe and his legal team had not been party to the NkabindeJafta proceedings and he did not know whether the justices would appeal. He said Judge Hlophe and his legal team’s concern was that “no complainant had come forward to give evidence under oath”. He raised questions about whether the judgment would enable this to happen.
The allegations of misconduct against Judge Hlophe first arose in 2008 when the then judges of the Concourt lodged a complaint against him in the form of a collective statement. He was accused of trying to influence the outcome of matters - related to the corruption charges against Jacob Zuma, who at the time was not yet president - before the Concourt.
After a lengthy legal process, the Judicial Service Commission decided in October 2012, to establish a judicial conduct tribunal to deal with the allegations.
Such tribunals are set up to deal only with serious allegations and carry the threat of impeachment in cases where gross misconduct is found to have occurred. The tribunal convened in October last year but stalled in the light of the challenge by Justices Nkabinde and Jafta.
Cape Times