JSC presents judicial candidates

2012-10-26 13:27

Judge Mogoeng Mogoeng

Pretoria - The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has recommended a number of candidates for appointment to the bench, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng said on Friday.

He said in Pretoria the candidates recommended to President Jacob Zuma on October 22 were:

- For Eastern Cape High Court (Mthatha and Port Elizabeth): advocate Murray John Lowe SC and Buyiswa Majiki.

- For the Electoral Court: Judge Dimpheletse Seun Stanley Moshidi and Judge Willem Wepener.
- For the KwaZulu-Natal High Court: Judge Achmat Naaim as deputy judge president.

The JSC advertised three vacancies in North and South Gauteng High Court.

Only two candidates were shortlisted and interviewed for these positions and only one recommendation was made.

The JSC had recommended that Zuma appoint David Stephanus Fourie, SC, as a judge of the North and South Gauteng High Court.

Gauntlett misses out

Four vacancies in the Western Cape High Court were advertised. Eight candidates were shortlisted and interviewed for these positions.

Before the interviews, the JSC was informed by the deputy judge president of the Western Cape High Court that a fifth vacancy had arisen.

After interviews, the JSC recommended the following candidates as judges: Judith Innes Cloete; Mokgoatji Josiah Dolamo; Babalwa Pearl Mantame; Owen Lloyd Rogers, SC; and Ashton Schippers, SC.

Senior advocate Jeremy Gauntlett, who had applied, again did not make the list.

Mogoeng said the JSC approached matters of transformation with the sensitivity they deserved.

However, no one should think the commission could be pressured into appointing a particular candidate.

"We treat all candidates and representations for and against the same... It is the unexaggerated substance of the representation that matters to us, not merely who it comes from," he said.

Mogoeng said sometimes the CVs of candidates looked good to the JSC members, but perceptions could change once they had been interviewed.

- SAPA