From a taxi driver to a black belt in taekwondo, some interesting candidates for positions on the bench will be interviewed by the Judicial Services Commission. Interviews of the 40 candidates begin in Cape Town today.There are 17 vacancies in the Gauteng, Eastern Cape, Free State, Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal High Courts and Labour Court.The CVs of the candidates reveal some fascinating insights into their previous lives .Jamela Mhlambi, vying with six others for a post in the Free State High Court, was a taxi driver.Another candidate, Judge Zamani Nhlangulela, who has applied for the post of deputy judge president in the Eastern Cape High Court, was a factory worker and a supermarket stock manager.Judge Mjabuliseni Madondo, short-listed for the post of deputy judge president in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court, was a farm worker in the 1960s, a gardener in the 1970s and a temp for Nestlé. As a lawyer he was known in his community as the black lawyer who had a "posh car" - a white Colt .Advocate Pieter Fischer SC, also vying for a Free State High Court post, was in the SA Navy but was suspended and branded a "security risk" for his views on discrimination during the apartheid era.The candidates have interesting hobbies too. Judge Annali Basson, 54, bidding for a Gauteng High Court post has a black belt in taekwondo and is also the president of the Taekwondo Federation Africa.Advocate Rean Strydom SC has run the Comrades Marathon six times and has an interest in classical music. Interviews go on for the entire week...