The Johannesburg high court is on Wednesday hearing Western Cape judge president John Hlophe’s urgent application to stay parliament’s impending impeachment process against him and the process for his suspension by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
In August the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) decided by a majority that Hlophe was guilty of gross misconduct for a 2008 complaint by all the-then justices of the Constitutional Court. The ConCourt justices complained that he had sought to influence the outcome of cases, then pending before their court, related to corruption charges against former president Jacob Zuma.
The JSC’s decision was then sent to parliament, which must, in terms of the constitution, decide whether to impeach.
Hlophe will also ask the Johannesburg high court, in Part B of his application, to declare that the August 25 meeting at which his guilt was decided was unlawful because the JSC was not properly constituted.
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