LETTER: Cyril Ramaphosa may now suspend John Hlophe, and he should
If the JSC agrees with the findings made, removal proceedings in the National Assembly will commence
The oft-quoted words of Winston Churchill, uttered in a speech after the second battle of El Alamein in World War 2, come to mind now that a finding of gross misconduct has been made against Western Cape judge president John Hlophe: this is “the end of the beginning” of a legal saga that started in March 2008 when he sought to prevail upon a colleague to find for Jacob Zuma in a pending appeal, continued in April that year when a second colleague got the same treatment, and became a complaint by the justices of the Constitutional Court against Hlophe as long ago as May 2008.
The 46-page finding of the Judicial Conduct Tribunal is rigorous, fair and damning of Hlophe, on his own version. Nevertheless, it is foreseeable that Hlophe will seek to set aside the decision on review. In the meantime the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) will consider the issue with a view to formulating its own stance on the finding of gross misconduct that has been made against Hlophe in trenchant te...
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