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Judges' racism talks underway
16/10/2005 15:29 - (SA)
Cape Town - Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla is to join the country's heads of courts at their meeting in Cape Town on Sunday afternoon, but it is not clear whether she will take part in the judges' debate on the race row in the Cape High Court.
Mabandla arrived at lunch-time at the hotel where the judges have been meeting since Sunday morning, and had a working meal with senior officials on an outside terrace, separate from the judges.
"I always have a meeting with heads of courts the day before the judicial services commission (JSC) sits," she told Sapa.
Asked whether the Cape High Court issue would be discussed, she said: "Not really".
There was ongoing discussion around the judges inquiry into an initial racism report from the Western Cape. "But if you recall, they decided to look at the whole question of racism, patterns of racism and that kind of thing... I'm not going to be discussing any specific case with them," Mabandla said. 'Important matter'
Constitutional Court Chief Justice Pius Langa told Sapa, as the judges broke for lunch, that they were dealing with "a number of things".
Asked about the Cape race row, he said: "What you're referring to is on the agenda. It is an important matter. We will deal with it."
Apart from Langa, the heads included top judge in the Supreme Court of Appeal, Craig Howie; the Competition Appeal Court, Dennis Davis; the Land Appeal Court, Fikile Bam; and the heads of the seven provincial divisions of the high court.
Sunday's meeting is one of the scheduled gatherings that regularly precedes a round of JSC hearings for new judges, but follows a series of race allegations against Cape Judge President John Hlophe.
Hlophe, who is also at the talks, has denied claims that he called a white lawyer "a piece of white shit" and that he allocated a case to a white judge because he hoped the judge would "fuck it up". 'Unknown forces'
The Cape Bar Council has officially reported the first allegation to Langa.
Last year, Hlophe sent a 43-page report to Mabandla containing a number of allegations of racism in the court.
These included claims that black judges who made mistakes were ridiculed; that black judges were told to stop speaking Zulu to each other in the chambers of a white judge; and that whites-only lunches were being held.
Half the judges in Hlophe's division last week signed a statement saying they believed he was the victim of a campaign by "unknown forces".
- SAPA
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