Dr John Hlophe was elected on Tuesday after six NGOs wrote to National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza, urging Parliament not to designate him as a member of the JSC. Picture: Armand Hough/Independent Newspapers
The uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party has hit back at the DA and non-governmental organisations that have opposed the election of MKP’s parliamentary leader and former Western Cape judge president John Hlophe to serve on the Judicial Services Commission (JSC).
Hlophe was elected on Tuesday after six NGOs wrote to National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza, urging Parliament not to designate him as a member of the JSC.
When their call was not heeded, the NGOs again expressed their displeasure after he was elected with only the DA, ACDP and Freedom Front Plus raising their objections.
Freedom Under Law (FUL) said it was hard to reconcile the contradictory position of political parties which voted for Hlophe to be removed from judicial office but then voted in favour of his appointment to the JSC.
“FUL will be challenging Dr Hlophe’s designation as a member of the JSC on rationality and rule of law,” the lobby group said.
Judges Matter said it was disappointed by the National Assembly’s decision to designate MPs who have previously been found guilty of misconduct or have been criticised by courts for ethical breaches to the JSC and the Magistrates Commission.
“It is a cruel irony that aspirant judicial officers will be assessed on their ethics, integrity and fitness for judicial office by commissioners who themselves have been found guilty of misconduct. Judges Matter reiterates our call for a written Code of Conduct for all commissioners, with a mechanism to recall those commissioners who do not uphold the terms of the code,” said Judges Matter researcher Mbekezeli Benjamin.
MKP secretary-general Sifiso Maseko expressed shock and dismay at what he termed “racist and unconstitutional conduct” of the DA and NGOs.
Maseko said the DA objected to Hlophe serving on the JSC on spurious grounds when it stated that it could not allow an impeached person to serve on the same body that found him guilty of misconduct and claiming that MKP and the EFF wanted to tear down the independent judiciary.
“A person removed through impeachment can occupy any other public office for which they are qualified. Only an impeached president can be disqualified from holding any other office and forfeit benefits,” he said.
Drawing from experiences in the US, Maseko said an impeached judge can sit in judgment over other judges and executive officials after election as an MP.
“The sole basis for the DA’s real objection is its quest to capture the judiciary after it captured the ANC-led government. The DA’s fake legal theories must be rejected.”
He said his party was “dismayed and disgusted” that unelected and unregulated NGOs were attempting to run the business of the National Assembly. He described the letter the NGOs wrote to Didiza as attempting to influence her to exclude Hlophe from being appointed on to the JSC.
Maseko said South Africans have allowed a few powerful families and their funded NGOs to run the country.
“These white-led NGOs are completely unregulated and their funding is likewise opaque. The NGOs are Oppenheimer, Soros, Michiel le Roux and foreign government funded, which begs the question of sovereignty of the South African state, foreign agents and a parallel government within the state.”
Maseko said the NGOs have no powers to write to the National Assembly and to urge Didiza to block the appointment of Hlophe.
“The Constitution gives MKP the right as the opposition party to have its designated member serve on the JSC.”
Maseko also said embattled ANC members such as Zizi Kodwa, President Cyril Ramaphosa and many state-capture accused leaders were MPs but that the NGOs were silent.
“White monopoly capital and foreign interests only want compromised blacks in Parliament who will enact anti-black legislations, privatise state-owned institutions, and parliamentarians who will act as a conduit for mega projects and business transactions that only benefit them at the expense of millions of poor voters.”
Cape Times