The MK Party (MKP) has launched an urgent application to interdict next week’s Judicial Services Commission (JSC) interviews for judicial appointments.
This follows the JSC’s refusal of the party’s request to postpone the interviews until the courts have ruled on its parliamentary leader John Hlophe’s contested membership of the JSC.
The party claims the JSC’s decision to decline the postponement request and to go ahead with the sittings scheduled for October 7-10 was inconsistent with the constitution, is in violation of Hlophe’s fundamental rights and is in breach of its obligation as an organ of the state to protect, promote and fulfil Hlophe and the MKP’s fundamental rights.
In its urgent application launched on Wednesday, the MKP argued that it was untenable and unconstitutional to separate Hlophe and/or MKP from the other five National Assembly members who have been designated to the JSC.
The party claimed Hlophe was being isolated for differential treatment and/or the designated members were being denied the equal protection and benefit of the law as well as the full enjoyment of all rights and freedoms provided in the constitution.
“The above-mentioned unfair discrimination and the denial of Dr Hlophe of his opportunity to perform his duties is a direct affront to his self-worth, dignity and/or the right to work,” said the MKP.
Hlophe is former judge president of the Western Cape High Court. In February, he became the first judge to be impeached by parliament after the JSC’s finding that he committed gross misconduct when he sought to influence constitutional court judges to rule in former president Jacob Zuma’s favour.
He became an MP in June, and in July, the National Assembly designated him as one of the six members who will represent the assembly in the JSC.
The DA, Freedom Under Law and Corruption Watch challenged Hlophe’s designation in the Western Cape High Court, and called for the court to interdict him from participating in the interviews of 54 candidates scheduled for next week.
The court ruled in their favour, barring Hlophe from participating in the interviews. It is yet to deal with Part B of the DA’s application, which pertains to Hlophe’s membership of the JSC.
On Wednesday the MKP filed an urgent application at the high court in Johannesburg seeking a declaration that the JSC’s refusal to postpone next week’s interviews is irrational, unlawful and/or unconstitutional and requesting an interdict to stop the scheduled weeklong interviews.
The MKP wants the interviews to be postponed pending the final determination of the appeal against the Western Cape High Court order which barred Hlophe from the interviews and the final determination of Part B of the DA’s case which is a broader case against Hlophe’s membership of the JSC, whichever occurs first.
Two days earlier, the party’s lawyers wrote to chief justice Mandisa Maya and requested that the JSC interviews be postponed on the basis holding them in Hlophe’s absence would be unconstitutional.
The JSC voted against the postponement, saying it was properly constituted because the court did not set aside the National Assembly’s decision to designate Hlophe to the body, and he remained a duly designated member of the commission.
The JSC also argued that the high court judgment stated that it (JSC) will be able to conduct its business while Hlophe remains under the interdict order and that applications for leave to appeal the interim interdict order do not preclude the JSC from proceeding with the interviews as scheduled.
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