Hlophe to withdraw Constitutional Court appeal

Cape Judge President John Hlophe will withdraw his appeal to the Constitutional Court over an alleged violation of his rights, one of his lawyers said on Monday.

Hlophe’s lawyer dealing with that matter, Lister Nuku, was not immediately available to comment, but Barnabas Xulu, who also represents him, confirmed it.

“He was cleared and he is of the view that the matter must come to an end,” said Xulu after speaking to Hlophe.

The matter came about when the judges of the court complained to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) about an approach Hlophe made while they were deciding a case relating to President Jacob Zuma.

Hlophe lodged a counter-complaint that the judges had violated his rights by making the complaint public before letting him answer to it.

The matter had already been through the Supreme Court of Appeal and was set down for November 17 in the Constitutional Court.

The JSC subsequently cleared him of the complaint and he went on to be interviewed for a post at the Constitutional Court, which he did not get.

If the matter had gone to the Constitutional Court, the judges would probably have had to recuse themselves as most were involved in the original complaint.

A court official said to take the matter off the roll, Hlophe had to file a notice of withdrawal to formalise his intention.—Sapa