Cape Town – President Cyril Ramaphosa has decided to suspend Western Cape High Court Judge President John Hlophe from his duties pending a decision of the National Assembly as per Section 177 of the Constitution.
The suspension was advised by the Judicial Services Commission (JSC), which in July recommended Hlophe be impeached after finding him guilty of gross misconduct.
President Ramaphosa said the suspension would “ensure continuity and stability in the work of the divisional high court”.
The suspension, which is in effect immediately, is on condition that Judge President Hlophe completes all part-heard matters and reserved judgments.
Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said that while Ramaphosa received the JSC report on July 27, due to the long history and complexity of the matter, he had taken the intervening period to “carefully consider all the permutations of the JSC recommendations, including obtaining guidance from an independent legal opinion”.
Magwenya said, “The President fully appreciated the need to balance Judge President Hlophe’s rights with those of the public and the interest of the judiciary as a whole.”
A Judicial Conduct Tribunal (JCT) concluded that Judge President Hlophe’s conduct breached the provisions of section 165 of the Constitution by improperly attempting to influence the two Justices of the Constitutional Court to violate their oaths of office.
The JCT established that Judge Hlophe’s behaviour seriously threatened and interfered with the independence, impartiality, dignity and effectiveness of the Constitutional Court and further undermined public confidence in the judicial system.
The JSC has referred the matter to parliament for the National Assembly to institute impeachment proceedings against Judge President Hlophe.
The issue of gross misconduct arose when 11 justices of the Constitutional Court lodged a complaint against Judge Hlophe more than 13 years ago, in May 2008.
At the time, then ANC president Jacob Zuma was challenging the Scorpions’ search and seizure warrants used to gather 93 000 pages of corruption trial evidence against him.
In June 2008 Judge Hlophe lodged a counter-complaint against the 11 judges.
He accused them of having undermined the Constitution by making a public statement alleging improper conduct on his part before properly filing a complaint with the JSC.
He further complained that, by filing the complaint even before they had heard his version of the events, they had violated his rights to dignity, privacy, equality, procedural fairness and access to courts.
The tribunal consisted of Judge Joop Labuschagne, a retired Judge of the Gauteng Division of the High Court; Judge Tati Makgoka, a judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal and Nishani Pather, a practising attorney.
The Tribunal’s report said: “Given the length of time it has taken to determine the merits of the complaint, it is prudent to give a full account of the undoubtedly inordinate delay. Much of the delay was due to litigation brought by one or the other of the main parties in the matter.”