Tsoka unfazed by some unwelcoming SCA judges as ‘you cannot be loved by all people’

Johannesburg high court Judge Moroa Tsoka said he was unfazed by the fact that some Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) judges seemed not to welcome him during his stint at that court.

Tsoka is one of nine judges who were being interviewed by the Judicial Service Commission for three posts at that court.

Tsoka had two acting stints at the SCA‚ the first one from December 1 2015 until May 30 2016 and the second one from June 1 2017 to November 30 last year.

Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng told Tsoka that judges who had acted at the SCA seemed to have experienced that environment differently.

“There are those who were well received … and those who have a somewhat unpleasant story to tell‚” Mogoeng said.

He asked Tsoka in which category he fell.

“I was fortunate that the majority of judges from SCA come from Johannesburg. Some of them we run together. Some of them are my personal friends. Those that did not welcome me‚ I took it as such. You cannot be loved by all people‚” Tsoka said.

Tsoka is a keen athlete who has competed in 11 Comrades marathons and in 12 Two Oceans marathons.

“My impression is that this is the fear of the unknown more than anything else. Who is this person that is coming to act in this court‚” Tsoka said.

Tsoka was admitted as an attorney in 1984 and was appointed as a judge in Johannesburg in 2004.

The commission has finished interviewing candidates for the SCA posts and was on Tuesday afternoon interviewing three candidates for three positions in the Competition Appeal Court.