Covid-19 uncertainty forces JSC to postpone interviews for superior court posts

The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has postponed a sitting scheduled for later this month to interview 27 candidates for positions in various superior courts.

The JSC, responsible for interviewing candidates for judicial posts and making recommendations for appointment to the bench, published notices in November calling for nominations of interested persons to fill 14 vacancies in the various superior courts.

In February, the screening committee of the JSC met and compiled a shortlist of candidates to be interviewed between April 20 and 24.

“In view of the lockdown ... the JSC has regrettably resolved to postpone its sitting ... A new date will be communicated in due course,” the JSC said in a statement.

For a single vacancy at the Constitutional Court, the JSC had shortlisted eight candidates, including Supreme Court of Appeal judge Nambitha Dambuza-Mayosi, six high court judges and a senior counsel.

The JSC was also set to interview candidates for two positions in the Electoral Court, a number of positions in the high courts in Durban and Pietermaritzburg, the deputy judge president position in the Mpumalanga division of the high court and for positions in the high courts in Mbombela, Middelburg and North West.