Cape Town - The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has announced a shortlist of seven candidates to be interviewed to fill two vacancies at the Western Cape High Court.
Of the seven, two, Penelope Magona-Dano and Nobahle Mangcu-Lockwood are women. Both have served as acting judges on the Western Cape bench.
The other five candidates are: Matthew Francis, Bryan Hack, Selwyn Hockey, Frederick Sievers SC, and Daniel Malefu Thulare.
Research and advocacy officer of the judges matter campaign Mbekezeli Benjamin said: “The fact that there are only two women on the list this time does cause some worry, considering that the majority of judges on the Western Cape bench are men. To recruit more women, judge presidents would usually invite legal practitioners to act as judges.”
“To Judge President John Hlophe's credit, two of the women on the shortlist have been acting judges in the recent past. We would however welcome more law academics and magistrates to act as judges, as both fields are dominated by women,” said Benjamin.
Cape Bar Council Chairperson Brenton Joseph SC said: “Nobahle Mangcu-Lockwood and Penelope Magona-Dano, both of whom are our members, were shortlisted from only three female applicants for appointment to the Western Cape High Court Bench. This we acknowledge as a firm commitment from the JSC to progress gender transformation of the judiciary.”
In November last year, members of the provincial ANC Women's League (ANCWL), gender and LGBTQIA+ activists led by the ANCWL provincial convener Belinda Landingwe, and provincial coordinator Lulama Jelele, met with Judge Hlophe to lobby for more women to be given positions of responsibility.
They also handed over a memorandum of grievances linked to gender based violence to Judge Hlophe, and demanded action.
At that meeting Judge Hlophe said: “The judges themselves need to be sensitised and that is why for instance in femicide matters I have as far as possible tried to allocate women judges to hear the cases.”
The shortlist also includes six candidates for a vacancy at the Constitutional Court as well as candidates for the Supreme Court of Appeal and the various divisions of the High Court across the country.
The JSC said in a statement: “The screening committee of the JSC met on January 29 and compiled a short list of candidates to be interviewed at its April sitting scheduled for April 12 to 23 this year.”
“Law bodies and members of the public wishing to comment on the suitability or otherwise of these candidates should address their comments to the secretariat of theJSC at [email protected] and [email protected], Cc: [email protected]. Comments must reach the secretariat by no later than March 8, 2021.” said the statement.
Cape Argus