Chief Justice Pius Langa on Tuesday confirmed that he had received a complaint about Cape Judge President John Hlophe.
”As far as the complaint by Judge [Siraj] Desai, yes, there is a complaint,” he told reporters attending the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) hearings in Cape Town.
Langa said the JSC still needed to decide how to deal with the complaint.
”No decisions have been taken yet,” he said, referring questions about Hlophe’s request for extended leave to Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla.
Mabandla confirmed that such an application had been received and that the ministry was considering it.
She was speaking at the start of the two-day hearings for candidates being interviewed for the positions of deputy judge president in the Natal Provincial division, two vacancies in the Transvaal Provincial Division and one vacancy in the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Hlophe, in a recent press statement, accused Desai, who also sits on the Cape Bench, of trying to discredit him and of using tactics similar to those he tried against a woman who accused him of rape in 2004.
In turn, Desai has denied prior knowledge of Hlophe’s complaints and claims to have been unaware that the judge president harboured such sentiments about him.
Hlophe’s statement concerned his relationship with the Oasis Crescent Retirement Fund, which he granted permission to sue Desai for defamation relating to remarks made at a 2001 public meeting of University Estate residents opposed to Oasis building its headquarters in Roodebloem Road.
In the statement, Hlophe reportedly admitted receiving ”expense” payments — in his capacity as a trustee on a retirement fund — from Oasis Group Holdings, between 2000 and 2005.
Hlophe’s statement contained ”several untrue allegations”, Desai said on Monday.
Payments made to Hlophe by Oasis had nothing to do with him, he said.
However, his integrity had been impugned and he had no option but to refer the matter to the chief justice and the JSC for a ”dignified response”.
Hlophe has also been at the centre of a racism drama which was the subject of an official probe.
Democratic Alliance justice spokesperson Sheila Camerer has urged Langa to clear up the allegations around Hlophe’s acceptance of remuneration outside his judicial post.
”It is deeply troubling that the last time the JSC met in October of 2005 Judge Hlophe was also embroiled in controversy, to the extent that allegedly racist remarks he made to a senior counsel dominated proceedings,” she said.
The most recent controversy had already turned into an ”unedifying public spat” between Hlophe and Desai.
”Behaviour of this sort does untold damage to all concerned, in particular to the reputation of the Cape Bench.”
Hlophe’s explanation that he got permission from former Justice Minister Dullah Omar for the Oasis job was unsatisfactory. The FF Plus would ask the JSC to discuss the matter with Hlophe, said its justice spokesman Frik van Heerden.
”The behaviour of Judge Hlophe brings the judiciary in discredit and measures should be instituted against him to ensure that ordinary citizens once again hold the bench in high esteem.”
His party would also place these allegations before the speaker of Parliament.
Should allegations against Hlophe prove true, he should be removed from his position so that he not cause ”further embarrassment” to the Cape bench, Van Heerden said. – Sapa