Denying Hlophe a seat on JSC an infringement of his constitutional rights - MK Party
The MK Party said that to deny its parliamentary leader, John Hlophe, a seat on the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) would be an infringement of his constitutional rights.
MK Party parliamentary leader, John Hlophe, in Parliament. Picture: @ParliamentofRSA/X
CAPE TOWN - The MK Party said that to deny its parliamentary leader, John Hlophe, a seat on the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) would be an infringement of his constitutional rights.
The party’s lawyer, Dali Mpofu, on Friday, reminded the Western Cape High Court that his impeachment was not a legal impediment to him holding public office and consequently being designated to the body that interviews judges for vacancies in the country’s courts.
For two days, the court has been besieged with three separate applications brought before it challenging the National Assembly’s decision to approve his designation.
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Speaker Thoko Didiza said that the House followed the process and she was not about to take sides.
The Democratic Alliance (DA), Freedom Under Law (FUL) and Corruption Watch said their issue was not about Hlophe but the National Assembly’s failure to take a rational and reasonable decision to second him to the judicial body on which he served for years, and which also recommended his removal from the bench.
It says the National Assembly had not acted in the public interest nor to ensure the independence and dignity of the judiciary are upheld.
But his lawyer, Advocate Thabani Masuku, said that Hlophe was being subjected to the harshest attack ever on a former judge, and the applicants wanted to punish him beyond an impeachment.
He argued that none of the other six MPs designated from the House had been put through the same scrutiny.
For the MK Party, Advocate Dali Mpofu said the court could not be asked to change the criteria for nominating parliamentarians to sit on the JSC and it was only an impeached president who was barred from holding public office.
"The court is being asked to do the most ridiculous thing - to fashion a forfeiture clause where there isn’t one. The court can’t do that," said Mpofu.
Mpofu said that theoretically, as the leader of the official opposition in Parliament, Hlophe could become the country’s president and this right could also not be taken away from him by virtue of his impeachment as a judge.
The court is expected to pronounce on the applications before the JSC next sits in October.