Cape Town - The Black People’s National Crisis Committee (BPNCC) took to the streets of Cape Town on Thursday in a march to Parliament, calling for President Cyril Ramaphosa to turn down a recommendation to suspend Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe.
On July 25, the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) held a meeting to bring finality to a matter that had been ongoing for more than 12 years.
At this meeting the JSC took a decision to recommend to Ramaphosa to suspend Judge Hlophe. The JSC announced its decision on July 26.
Following the meeting, Hlophe’s lawyer, Barnabas Xulu (SC), noted with concern that the guilty finding by the Judicial Tribunal in April 2021 was being challenged at the Supreme Court of Appeal and any action taken while the matter was still pending would be a “mockery”.
Now a group from the legal fraternity have come out to show public support for Judge Hlophe, who they said has been instrumental in transforming the judiciary and was responsible for the Western Cape High Court title as the “best performing” division in the country.
Project 27 spokesperson advocate Fairuz Seria said: “The legal consequences that flow from his suspension is that he is a litigant, the matter is currently with the SCA and on that basis he should never have been recommended for suspension in the first place because you cannot suspend a litigant when the matter is still pending.”
She said that the JSC recommendation came at a time when the matter was still subject to ongoing litigation was “a slap in the face of justice”.
“It’s actually ironic that he has a matter before the SCA yet they are calling for his suspension, which makes no sense. How is it possible that an outstanding judge can be dealt with in this manner? What would be the reason?” advocate Seria asked.
Meanwhile, the BPNCC on Thursday, after their march to Parliament, handed over a memorandum to the Office of the Presidency. They calling on the president to note what they considered a political attack against Judge Hlophe.
In the memorandum they requested the Ramaphosa not to suspend Judge Hlophe in light of the pending litigation at the SCA.
The Black Lawyers Association has also spoken out on the matter, saying that the public rhetoric on the issue amounted to “unfairness” to Judge Hlophe.
BLA president Bayethe Maswazi said: “The president, in the exercise of his discretion, must consider that he is faced with a unique situation in SA history and thus a decision to suspend the Judge President under the circumstances referred to will be used as a precedent in the future. The unique factual situation in the Hlophe matter makes suspension a rather unwarranted course of action.”