The Judicial Services Commission (JSC) has set up a special litigation commission to deal with the matter involving Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe, the SABC reported on Tuesday.
In 2008, the Constitutional Court’s judges told the media they had laid a complaint against Hlophe with the JSC, claiming he had made an improper attempt to influence a case related to President Jacob Zuma.
Hlophe brought a counter complaint that his rights were violated when the judges issued the media statement.
In March, the Constitutional Court’s judges denied Hlophe’s application for leave to appeal a misconduct case between him and them.
It was the first time the court, the highest in the country, has had to hear a case in which some of its judges were involved and it faced a conflict of interest.
The judges made no order on Hlophe’s actual complaint but the effect of their judgment was that the JSC had to reopen the matter.
The JSC began interviews in Cape Town on Tuesday, to fill 12 positions for judges in the country’s high courts.
Five candidates were interviewed for two vacancies in the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Other vacancies to be filled are in the Constitutional Court and high courts in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, the Northern Cape, Pretoria and Johannesburg.
The interviews end on Friday. — Sapa