JSC to unveil Hlophe findings

2009-08-27 15:28

Johannesburg - All eyes will be on the Judicial Service Commission on Friday when it makes known its initial findings on the complaints relating to Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe.

Spokesperson Marumo Moerane said the JSC would probably release its finding on whether to go ahead with a full investigation into the complaints, by a press statement.

It would inform Hlophe first on what was decided after the preliminary hearing into the complaints earlier in August.

"He will definitely know before you," said Moerane.

Investigation

The investigation into a complaint by judges of the Constitutional Court that Hlophe made what they felt was an inappropriate approach while they were deliberating a judgment of Jacob Zuma before he became president, started anew after a court declared the previous process void.

Hlophe has lodged a counter-complaint that the judges of the highest court of the land violated his dignity by going public with their complaint before he had had a chance to address the issue. The preliminary investigation was conducted by a three-person panel of leading legal figures.

It consisted of a public hearing where Hlophe and Constitutional Court Judges Bess Nkabinde and Chris Jafta, Chief Justice Pius Langa and Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke told their sides of the story.

Hlophe's supporters had hoped he would succeed Langa as chief justice but since Judge Sandile Ngcobo's nomination for the post, they have set their sights on one of the other vacancies on the Constitutional Court's bench.

- SAPA