A senior counsel hoping to be appointed to the Gauteng High Courts on Thursday faced tough questions at the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) interviews about having been conscripted into the army during the apartheid-era and his lack of political activism. Panyaza Lesufi‚ JSC commissioner representing Gauteng premier David Makhura‚ said the reason for the questions to Corrie van der Westhuizen SC was to ascertain whether he would be able‚ as a judge‚ to serve everybody‚ given what appeared to be a very privileged background.Van der Westhuizen was the last candidate to be interviewed for appointment to the Johannesburg and Pretoria High Courts on Thursday. He said he had not had a privileged background and had worked for everything he had.Van der Westhuizen said he had not objected to being conscripted‚ despite knowing that apartheid was an unjust system‚ because if he had‚ he would have been treated as a criminal and his "ability to assist" later would have been tarnished.He said he was a "very apolitical person" and a very private person who did not join groups. Van der Westhuizen also said that since childhood‚ he had rejected apartheid and did not understand it."But you have never raised a finger‚" said Lesufi.Lesufi was backed up by EFF leader Julius Malema‚ who asked Van der Westhuizen what the longest time he had spent in a black township was‚ to which he replied that he did not keep time but maybe half a day. "Do you speak any African language?" asked Malema."No‚ commissioner‚ I am not a linguist‚ I am a lawyer‚" said Van der Westhuizen.Malema then asked whether apartheid‚ as a system‚ had taught white people to hate black people. Van der Westhuizen replied that he disagreed because individuals always had a choice and that there were many people who chose not to hate.To this‚ Malema replied that he was not talking about individuals‚ but about the structure of apartheid‚ to which Van der Westhuizen said perhaps that was so‚ he had not made a study of apartheid‚ what he knew was that it was meant to keep people separate.Malema asked: "Are you defending apartheid?" No‚ said Van der Westhuizen‚ apartheid "was deplorable".Eventually Justice Minister Michael Masutha suggested that Van der Westhuizen was in a "state of denial" and that as a result would not be able to serve the transformative goals of the Constitution.The issue of conscription was put to another candidate‚ Norman Davis SC‚ who was interviewed on Wednesday. Questions about the ability to speak African languages have also been a feature of this round of interviews.Many white candidates were left squirming in their seats trying to explain why they had never seriously sought to learn an African language.The JSC was to announce who it had recommended for appointment to the Gauteng courts during the course of Thursday...