Lindsay Dentlinger1 November 2024 | 3:45

MK Party to challenge interdict barring Hlophe from sitting on JSC

The party wants leave to appeal the decision by a full bench to the Supreme Court.

MK Party to challenge interdict barring Hlophe from sitting on JSC

MK Party parliamentary leader John Hlophe sworn in as an MP on 25 June 2024. Picture: GCIS

JOHANNESBURG - The MK Party will approach the Western Cape High Court on Friday to challenge an interdict that barred its parliamentary leader John Hlophe from sitting as a commissioner on the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) last month.

The party wants leave to appeal the decision by a full bench to the Supreme Court.

This is despite Hlophe resigning as a commissioner in the interim.  

The matter is part of a bigger case involving the Democratic Alliance (DA), Freedom Under Law (FUL), and Corruption Watch which are challenging the National Assembly’s decision to designate him as one of its six commissioners.

READ: MK Party withdraws nomination of Hlophe to serve on JSC

Last month, the JSC refused to put its sitting on hold pending the outcome of Hlophe's legal battle with the DA, FUL, and Corruption Watch over his designation as a commissioner.

The MK Party then failed in a subsequent eleventh-hour high court bid to stop the sitting. 

Hlophe subsequently resigned from the JSC.

He said at the time he didn't want to be part of a body that in his view was sitting illegally to interview candidate judges because it didn't have a representative from the main opposition party as provided for by law.  

The panel also interviewed Hlophe's successor as Western Cape High Court Judge president.

On Friday, the MK Party will argue that by granting the interdict last month, the court failed to properly interpret provisions of the constitution related to the impeachment of a judge.

READ: MK's Hlophe insists he has the right to sit on the JSC

It said Hlophe's impeachment for gross misconduct does not disqualify him from sitting on the very same body that recommended his dismissal to parliament.  

The DA and FUL oppose the application, arguing the matter is now moot and will have no practical effect.

The court has yet to hear the main case in which the applicants question the rationality of the National Assembly's decision to approve Hlophe's designation as a commissioner.