Durban -The Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng has decided to appeal the ruling made by the Judicial Conduct Committee (JCC), which ordered him to apologise for remarks he made about Israel.
The decision to appeal was announced yesterday in a statement issued by the secretariat of JCC.
In the ruling, Mogoeng was ordered to unconditionally apologise and retract his pro-Israel views made in June last year.
Yesterday’s statement said: “Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng has signified his intention to appeal the decision made by Mojapelo DJP, a member of the Judicial Conduct Committee (JCC) in the complaints lodged by Africa4Palestine, SABDS Coalition and the Women’s Cultural Group.”
The committee said the appeal would be heard by at least three judges, at a date still to be determined.
Emeritus law professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal George Devenish and Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution executive director Lawson Naidoo both agreed that Mogoeng was within his rights to take the ruling on appeal.
Devenish said it was difficult to predict what would happen during the appeals process.
“But he will have to decide whether he wants to apologise or not,” he said.
Devenish reiterated his earlier statements, that judges should not make public statements on religious or political matters. He told The Mercury last week that judges should not express their religious or political views in public because it could happen that a case could come before them, with a litigant from another religion, and then the judge would be in a quandary.
Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution executive director Lawson Naidoo said if the appeals judges agreed with the original finding made then the decision would stand and Mogoeng would have to apologise.
He said Mogoeng would have to exhaust the appeals process within the Judicial Services Commission Act.
“If he chooses not to apologise after his appeals have been exhausted and he loses then that could be construed to be gross misconduct and he may well face sanctions for gross misconduct which would potentially involve impeachment,” said Naidoo.
Naidoo added that Mogoeng only has a few months left in his position as chief justice and could not be reappointed.
“You only serve a 12-year term in the Constitutional Court and that’s it. His 12 years are up in October,” he said.
Chief Justice Mogoeng is the first chief justice in the country’s democratic history to be sanctioned for inappropriate conduct.
Members of the JCC, who are eligible to hear the appeal, are Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, Justices DH Zondi, N Dambuza and M Victor.
The Mercury