Parliament to defend urgent application by Hlophe to halt impeachment vote against him
Judge John Hlophe is looking to stop Parliament from holding an impeachment vote against him next Wednesday.
FILE: Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe. Picture: GCIS
CAPE TOWN - Parliament says it will defend an urgent application by suspended Western Cape High Court Judge President John Hlophe to stop an impeachment vote against him in the House next week.
It has confirmed that it’s been served by Hlophe, who currently has another case linked to this matter pending in the Constitutional Court.
Hlophe and former Gauteng High Court judge, Nkola Motata, are both facing permanent removal from the bench next week over separate incidents of gross misconduct over a decade ago.
Parliament has never before been faced with impeaching high court judges.
Judge John Hlophe is looking to stop Parliament from holding an impeachment vote against him next Wednesday.
He’s now filed an urgent interdict application in the Western Cape High Court to halt the parliamentary proceedings.
It’s the same court in which he’s been the country’s longest-serving judge president and from which he’s currently suspended.
In a protracted battle that also took a turn in the courts, the Judicial Service Commission eventually found him guilty of gross misconduct in 2021 for allegedly attempting to influence Constitutional Court judges in 2008 in a case involving former president, Jacob Zuma.
Hlophe is challenging the lack of parliamentary guidelines or rules for the impeachment of a judge in the Constitutional Court and wants next week’s National Assembly vote halted until the apex court has heard the matter.
At least 264 members will have to vote in favour of his removal for the impeachment to succeed.