By Louise Flanagan
Eight judges are to be interviewed for three top posts in the judiciary - including a judge accused of failing to investigate apartheid-era hit squads properly and another accused of racism.
On Tuesday, the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) released its shortlist of 35 applicants for 15 positions in the judiciary.
Eight of the candidates are judges, another nine are advocates. The rest are attorneys, magistrates or academics.
The judges all applied for three positions on the Supreme Court of Appeal - deputy president and two judgeships.
One of the two judges shortlisted for the deputy president job is Judge Louis Harms, probably best known for heading the 1990 commission of inquiry into political murders and hit squads.
In 1996, after questions over the commission's investigation were raised at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Sapa reported that Judge Harms denied any evidence had been suppressed or any cover-up had taken place.
Later, in its final report, the TRC called the Harms Commission "worthless", saying its investigation into the military hit squad, the Civil Co-operation Bureau (CCB), had focused only on activities within SA while the CCB mainly operated outside the country.
The TRC found Harms had absolved security police at the notorious Vlakplaas base of hit squad activities, but found the CCB "broadly culpable of politically motivated violence".
"We have a policy that if a judge applies for a higher position, we automatically shortlist that judge, whoever he or she is.
"It's for the full JSC to decide whether that person will be appointed," said JSC spokesperson Marumo Moerane SC on Tuesday when he was asked why Judge Harms was on the shortlist.
Cape Judge President John Hlophe's name is not among those shortlisted, and Moerane would not say whether the judge had applied for any position.
However, as all judges who applied were automatically shortlisted, it is assumed Judge Hlophe did not apply for an Appeal Court position.
No candidates were shortlisted for the single position on the Constitutional Court and this is being re-advertised.
Moerane said there were eight applications for the Concourt position - arising because Judge Tholie Madala is due to complete his term - including three late applications.
The applicants included judges, said Moerane, but would not name them.
The JSC questionnaire was not completed by all the applicants, so the position was being re-advertised, he said.
One of the judges applying for an Appeal Court position is Judge Frans Diale Kgomo, one of that court's acting judges.
As Judge President of the Northern Cape, Judge Kgomo was involved in a 2006 spat with two other judges who he said insulted him.
He complained to the JSC about them, and one in turn filed a complaint against him of discrimination, racism and nepotism.
The complaints were again before the JSC in April and Moerane was not sure if these had been finalised yet.
"We advised them to sort themselves out," he said.
The other judges shortlisted are: Judge Kenneth Mthiyane (for the deputy president of the Supreme Court of Appeal position); and judges Eric Leach, Frans Malan, Nonkosi Mhlanthla, Lusindiso Pakade and Suretta Snyders (for the two Appeal Court vacancies).
Altogether there were 134 applicants for 18 positions, including the Concourt position, and one position each in the Venda High Court and the Electoral Court for which no candidates were shortlisted.
The full JSC is due to interview the candidates in Cape Town on October 13-17.
The JSC last interviewed candidates for judicial positions in April, after advertising 10 vacancies in January.