Zuma defends Hlophe's designation to JSC, labels court challenges as racist, frivolous

CAPE TOWN - MK Party president, Jacob Zuma, said that attempts to challenge Parliament’s decision to designate former judge John Hlophe to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) were frivolous and vexatious. 

He's come out in defence of Hlophe in arguments filed in the Western Cape High Court, saying that the aggrieved organisations had failed to show how Hlophe was not a fit and proper person to interview candidates for judges. 

Zuma said he believes the African National Congress (ANC) was punished in the May polls for voting to impeach the former judge president in February.

Three court challenges have been mounted in the Western Cape High Court against Hlophe’s designation to the JSC - the Democratic Alliance (DA), Freedom Under Law and Corruption Watch. 

On Monday, the Constitutional Court also issued directives in a fourth challenge by AfriForum, setting out the timeline for filing arguments.

Responding simultaneously to all three parties in the high court matters, former President Jacob Zuma said that they were all racist, foreign-funded, right-wing bodies who were abusing the court.

He said it was the MK Party that chose Hlophe as its candidate to the JSC, and not Hlophe himself. 

But he rejected an insinuation that this had been done with strategic intent. 

Zuma said that the applicants' legal challenges should be directed at the National Assembly and its rules and not Hlophe. 

He said that Hlophe was one of the most experienced jurists to ever have sat on the body, and in the future, he would recuse himself if necessary, where conflicts of interest may arise. 

In October, the JSC will interview for Hlophe’s replacement on the bench, including his former deputy, Patricia Goliath, who previously lodged complaints against him with the JSC.

The three high court applications will be heard simultaneously next week.