The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has recommended four judges and advocate Alan Dodson for appointment at the Constitutional Court.
The JSC interviewed six candidates for two vacancies at the top court on Tuesday and Wednesday.
After deliberations on Wednesday morning, the commission recommended Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) justices Ashton Schippers, Nambitha Dambuza-Mayosi and Glenn Goosen; Western Cape High Court judge Katharine Savage and Dodson.
Their names will be forwarded to President Cyril Ramaphosa, who will announce the two appointments.
Gauteng high court judge Ingrid Opperman, who accepted nomination for the interview, withdrew before she was interviewed.
The only candidate interviewed but not recommended is academic Madumetja Kate Malepe.
Schippers, 67, is the oldest of the five recommendees. The constitution states that a Constitutional Court judge holds office for a non-renewable term of 12 years or until they turn 70.
Schippers has four years left to serve on the bench but told the JSC an appointment to the apex court should not be about the length of time a candidate has to work but their experience in law.
“A candidate to the Constitutional Court should not be assessed according to the length of their tenure but for experience, consistency of commitment to the constitution and its values,” he said.
Cases he has presided over as an SCA judge for past nine years proved his understanding of the law, Schippers added.
“I can make an immediate tested contribution when the work is overwhelming and the stakes are high,” he told the JSC.
“I believe impact follows readiness clarity not length of remaining tenure. I do not see my remaining tenure as a limitation but a strategic advantage. I do not need time to find my feet or learn the institution.”
Schippers referred to his judgments, including Nelson Mandela Foundation Trust vs AfriForum regarding the controversial public display of the old SA flag.
In his judgment on the matter he said: “The gratuitous public display of the old flag is extremely degrading and dehumanising to those who suffered under apartheid.
“The message being sent, intentionally, is that life in SA was better under apartheid and black people are to be downtrodden, despised and denied their humanity, solely on account of their race.
“It is therefore unsurprising that white supremacists about the world have adopted and used the old flag as a symbol of hatred, oppression, and racial superiority.”
Schippers told the JSC that AfriForum had argued it was practising the right to freedom of expression, though he saw the flag display as a form of “hate speech”.
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