Why Zuma chose Mogoeng Mogoeng

18 August 2011 - 02:44 By AMUKELANI CHAUKE and CAIPHUS KGOSANA
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PRESIDENT ZUMA
PRESIDENT ZUMA

President Jacob Zuma has defended his nomination of Judge Mogoeng Mogoeng as chief justice, saying he was "far senior" in experience than most other judges of the Constitutional Court.

In an unprecedented move yesterday, Zuma's office released a 700-word statement in which Zuma sought to justify his decision to nominate Mogoeng to head the Constitutional Court following intense criticism by opposition parties and commentators.

He said the debate about the appointment of the new chief justice should not "impugn the dignity" of the judiciary or of the highest court in the land.

Zuma has been slammed for overlooking more senior judges at the Constitutional Court such as Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke.

But political analyst Eusebius McKaiser scoffed at Zuma's attempt to justify the nomination. He said Mogoeng could not be compared to someone like Justice Edwin Cameron.

"He [Mogoeng] has 10 reported judgments in his 10 years of experience. Cameron has over 100 reported judgments and, in terms of experience, that is not competition," he said.

He said that, when Mogoeng was interviewed by the Judicial Services Commission for one of the four vacancies on the Constitutional Court bench, he had conceded that his judicial output on constitutional matters was minimal.

The post of chief justice became vacant when Justice Sandile Ngcobo declined Zuma's offer to extend his term.

Yesterday, Zuma said: "Justice Mogoeng has been a judge since 1997 and is far senior in terms of judicial experience than most judges who are in the Constitutional Court currently, with the exception of Justice Johan Froneman, who was appointed a judge in 1994, and Justice Edwin Cameron, who was appointed a judge in 1995."

The Presidency slammed the criticism of Mogoeng's character, saying, the debate "must be balanced and be within the rules of common decency".

"[The debate] must not be designed to demean the person [or] question the integrity of the president's nominee."

McKaiser said his reasons for criticising Mogoeng's nomination were not "political or ideological" but were based on facts. He said that Mogoeng had written only four judgments since being appointed to the Constitutional Court two years ago.

As Zuma sought to justify his choice of candidate for the top judicial office, questions continued to be asked about Mogoeng.

The DA yesterday called for the Judicial Service Commission to interview Mogoeng in public when it met to consider his suitability for the position.

COPE president Mosiuoa Lekota has told Zuma that his party objects to Mogoeng's nomination because he does not have sufficient experience on the bench.

Yesterday, Judicial Service Commission spokesman Dumisa Ntsebeza said the interviewing of Mogoeng "is going to be public", adding he did not see any reason why it should not be.

Presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj said that Constitutional Court experience was not a criterion for appointment of the chief justice.

He said that previous Constitutional Court judges had been appointed even though they had no experience as judges.

"By implication it is not necessary that persons appointed as Constitutional Court judges should have been judges before [their] appointment.

"They could have been legal academics, advocates, attorneys or directors of NGOs."

Maharaj added that Mogoeng was the only judge of the Constitutional Court who had been a chief judicial officer of a court.

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