They were reacting to reports that Mogoeng raised serious
concerns about the separation of church and the judiciary by ordering top
judges to attend a leadership conference by American evangelist and leadership
guru, John Maxwell.
"The heads of courts have noted some of the allegations in
the media about Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng in the wake of the invitation to
them to attend a conference," they said in a statement.
"The invitation was not to a religious event but to a
leadership conference, which nobody was ordered or compelled to attend."
In an email sent on behalf of Mogoeng to Heads of Court, judges
including Supreme Court of Appeal judge president Lex Mpati, Western Cape judge
president John Hlophe, and KwaZulu-Natal judge president Chiman Patel, were
"requested to be available" for an evangelical leadership conference
held in Kempton Park, Johannesburg, the Mail & Guardian Online reported on
Thursday.
Mogoeng, a lay preacher at the Winners
Chapel International
Church, told the Business Day on
Friday he did not compel any judge to attend the course. He said the reports
were doing a "disservice to our country" to "take things out of
context and to sensationalise".
Since 2005, a committee looking into allegations of racism in
the judiciary, headed by former chief justice Pius Langa, had identified a need
for leadership training for heads of court, he said.
On Saturday the Christian Democratic Party said that liberals
and atheists were keeping their eyes on Mogoeng.
"It would appear that the liberals and atheists are keeping
their beady eyes on Mogoeng, just waiting for him to do something they can
object to," party leader Theunis Botha said in a statement.
"Had he been a devout atheist adhering to a liberal value
system, that is as much ‘religion' as Christianity, he would have been able to
act according to his convictions with impunity," said Botha.
He said liberals demanded fair judgements from the chief
justice, but then doubted him, suspicious of his Christian stance.
The Heads of Courts includes the president and deputy president
of the Supreme Court of Appeal.
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