President Cyril Ramaphosa has nominated four candidates for the vacant deputy chief justice position: Gauteng judge president Dunstan Mlambo, Supreme Court of Appeal president Mahube Molemela, Free State judge president Cagney Musi and Northern Cape judge president Pule Tlaletsi.
Letters have been sent to leaders of political parties in parliament and the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) asking them for their views on the candidates.
This is a requirement of the constitution, which says the president appoints the deputy chief justice “after consulting” the JSC and the leaders of the political parties represented in the National Assembly.
This means the president must consider their views but is not bound by them.
The position of deputy chief justice has been vacant since September last year and there has been criticism about Ramaphosa’s delay in filling the crucial leadership vacancy.
However, the nominations may raise eyebrows in the legal community for several reasons, including that none of the nominations has been drawn from the ranks of the Constitutional Court.
However, two independent sources said that several potential candidates declined nomination, though it was unclear whether those approached were from the ranks of Constitutional Court justices.
Mlambo has been widely considered a front-runner for the vacancy. He was nominated for chief justice in 2022 alongside former chief justice Raymond Zondo and current chief justice Mandisa Maya.
Though respected judges, the other three were not until now viewed as in the running for the deputy chief justice post. Molemela was twice before recommended by the JSC for appointment to the Constitutional Court. But she was appointed as president of the Supreme Court of Appeal in 2023 and told the JSC in her interview that she would remain at the Supreme Court of Appeal and not soon make herself available for the Constitutional Court if appointed.
The nominations are also likely to mean the JSE will interview the candidates publicly.
The February 2022 interviews — in which Zondo, Maya, acting deputy chief justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga and Mlambo were interviewed — were famously fraught and bruising for the candidates, leading to questions about the prudence of nominating more than one candidate for judicial leadership posts.
After that round of interviews, Zondo was appointed as chief justice, even though the JSC recommended Maya for the post.
Since then, and until now, Ramaphosa made single nominations for judicial leadership posts: he nominated Maya for deputy chief justice in March 2022, Molemela for president of the Supreme Court of Appeal in February 2023, Maya for chief justice in February 2024, and, on the same date, nominated Dumisani Zondi for deputy president of the SCA.
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