Hearings on a complaint that Western Cape judge president John Hlophe tried to influence Constitutional Court justices in a case involving former president Jacob Zuma more than a decade ago are set to finally go ahead.
The Judicial Conduct Tribunal said in a statement on Thursday that it will look into the allegations and submit a report of its findings to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), the body that, among other things, deals with complaints about judges.
The complaint dates back to 2008, when Hlophe was accused of trying to improperly influence retired justice Bess Nkabinde and justice Chris Jafta in a matter related to Zuma’s corruption case involving the 1990s arms deal. The statement said the tribunal will comprise retired Gauteng High Court judge Joop Labuschagne, as president; Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) judge Tati Makgoka; and attorney Nishani Pather.
The SCA set out the facts in its judgment in which it set aside a decision by the JSC to dismiss the complaint, setting in motion the current tribunal. The court had heard arguments in four matters related to the prosecution of Zuma in the arms deal case in March 2008. Judgment was reserved in the matter, which dealt with, among other things, the lawfulness of the search and seizure processes used by law enforcement officers.
The court detailed that before judgment was handed down, Hlophe visited Nkabinde and Jafta separately in their chambers at the Constitutional Court and had discussions with them.
“These discussions were subsequently reported to the other members of the Constitutional Court and led to a complaint being lodged by the judges of the Constitutional Court with the JSC that ‘Judge John Hlophe had approached some of the judges of the Constitutional Court in an improper attempt to influence this Court’s pending judgment in one or more cases’,” the SCA judgment detailed.
Since the judgment was delivered in 2011, there have been multiple postponements as the process edged along, culminating in the hearings next week. The case is of such significance that retired justice Edwin Cameron said on the day of his retirement that the unresolved saga hangshung over SA’s top court.
The hearings will take place from Monday to Friday.
The hearings also come a week before the appeal body of the judicial conduct committee will hear an appeal by Hlophe in a separate matter against a decision by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng who, among others, dismissed a complaint he lodged against his deputy Patricia Goliath.
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