Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) president Mahube Molemela has declined a nomination by President Cyril Ramaphosa for the second-most senior judicial post in the country, saying it was important for her to focus on the SCA.
Molemela was nominated for deputy chief justice by the president alongside three others — Gauteng judge president Dunstan Mlambo, Free State judge president Cagney Musi and Northern Cape judge president Pule Tlaletsi.
“After careful reflection, I consider it important for me to, at this stage, focus on the execution of the strategy I crafted for the expeditious elimination of the challenges faced by the Supreme Court of Appeal,” she said in a letter to chief justice Mandisa Maya on April 29.
The president’s list of nominated candidates for deputy chief justice earlier this month raised eyebrows in the legal community for several reasons — including that he chose to make four nominations instead of one; and of all these, no candidate was put forward from the ranks of the Constitutional Court bench.
Molemela’s nomination was surprising because her elevation to lead the SCA was fairly recent — just two years ago in 2023. She had also reassured the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) during her April 2023 interview that she would remain at the SCA and not seek appointment to the Constitutional Court.
“I here and now want to assure the nation that if I am appointed to that position, I will retire from that position,” she said.
The remaining candidates will likely be interviewed by the JSC as part of the consultation process the president must undertake — the constitution says the president appoints the deputy chief justice after consulting the JSC and the leaders of political parties represented in the National Assembly.
Historically, the president has usually nominated only one candidate for the top four judicial positions in the country. Unusually, in September 2021 Ramaphosa initiated a public nomination process for chief justice and then made four nominations from those names put forward by the public.
That led to a fraught and bruising round of interviews in February 2022. While the JSC recommended chief justice Maya (then president of the SCA), Ramaphosa appointed former chief justice Raymond Zondo. While there was nothing unlawful in how Ramaphosa went about it, the way it unfolded raised questions about the prudence of this kind of approach. After those interviews, Ramaphosa nominated single candidates when vacancies arose for the top four posts — until now.
It is unclear why he has changed course this time. Asked why Ramaphosa had not nominated anyone from the ranks of the Constitutional Court and why he had opted for more than one nomination, Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said the president “chose to approach this process differently”.
“The issues you are raising are not prescribed for his observance or compliance in the course of initiating a consultation process with the JSC,” said Magwenya.
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