Hlophe's lawyer says his client should not be punished with costs order for making disparaging remarks about judiciary

CAPE TOWN - Lawyer for uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party parliamentary leader John Hlophe has told the Western Cape High Court he should not be punished with a costs order for the disparaging remarks made by him and his party about the judiciary.

Advocate Thabani Masuku says as a parliamentarian he has freedom of speech and is no longer curtailed by what he can say when he was the judge president of the same court.  

The MK Party and Hlophe have on Wednesday been opposing applications by the Democratic Alliance, Freedom Under Law and Corruption Watch to bar him from representing his party and parliament on the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).  

Masuku said it was both terrible and abhorrent that Hlophe was found guilty of gross misconduct by the JSC in 2021 for a conversation he had with two former constitutional court judges in 2008 about a corruption case involving former president Jacob Zuma.

But he said Hlophe's impeachment has nothing to do with his ability to interview candidate judges.

"We've been brought to court and berated as disgraced, as unfit and they are asking for a radical….basically asking you to strip Dr Hlophe of his rights of membership in the National Assembly," said Masuku.

Asked by North Gauteng High Court Judge Annali Basson about how the court should interpret his suitability to sit on the JSC in light of comments he’s made about the judiciary, Masuku offered this reply.  

"In his current role as a politician, he's entitled to free speech in the most, freest way possible. You as judges don't have the kind of freedom he has to speak."

Judgment in the matter has been reserved.