Mogoeng not the right candidate - DA

2011-09-05 14:43

Paul Vecchiatto

Cape Town - The DA believes that Judge Mogoeng Mogoeng is not suitable to fill the country's highest judicial post as chief justice and will be making its reasons known to President Jacob Zuma.

On Monday, DA leader Helen Zille said she had written to Zuma on behalf of her party and would be meeting with him on Tuesday to outline the objections to Mogoeng.

This follows the weekend's hearings by the Judicial Services Commission during which Mogoeng was interviewed and the commission endorsed his candidature.

Zille said that her party did not believe that Mogoeng possessed the outstanding legal skills as opposed to "usual" or "adequate" required of a chief justice.

Support, skills

Zille said the DA believed that Mogeong's history as a judge showed that he failed to display the unwavering adherence and commitment to the Constitution required of a chief justice.

She said she did not believe that Mogoeng had shown himself, in his past judgments, to be suitably defensive of the independence of the judiciary.

Another objection was that the DA did not believe that Mogoeng enjoyed the support, both intellectually and collegially, of his colleagues on the Constitutional Court, and the wider legal fraternity.

"Lastly, we do not believe he possesses the requisite administrative, accounting and personnel management skills," Zille said.

In its statement, the DA said the JSC had chosen not to consider, nor comment on, the relative suitability of Mogoeng with regard to either what was to be expected of a person who sought to fill the position of chief justice, or indeed other possible nominees qualifying for nomination.

- I-Net Bridge (News24)