Mail & Guardian Reporter
THE Transvaal Bench will be on the light side next year after the Judicial Services Commission last week rejected five of the seven candidates gunning for the division’s four vacancies.
The commission selected only two of the applicants: Ivor Schwartzman, SC, and S Snyders, SC, who will become the division’s third woman judge. The rest -advocates MF Noorbhai, SC, B Pandya, SC, MNS Sithole, Professor FR Malan of the Rand Afrikaans University and Rustenburg attorney I Klynsmith – apparently failed to make the grade. A commission spokesman said it would advertise again for the posts in April.
The commission’s decision should pacify lawyers who are worried that the government is sacrificing quality in its bid to transform the predominantly white, male judiciary.
It comes shortly after Transvaal Judge President Frikkie Eloff unnerved the province’s profession by appointing four junior advocates as acting judges.