Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Brigitte Mabandla on Wednesday confirmed that she has accepted a request for long leave from embattled Cape Judge President John Hlophe.
”I am giving it. He is entitled to it [leave],” she said during a tea break at a Judicial Service Commission (JSC) hearing.
Mabandla did not want to confirm whether the leave is with immediate effect, nor the duration of the leave.
Hlophe is involved in a public spat with a fellow Cape Judge, Siraj Desai, whom he accused over the weekend of trying to discredit him.
Desai has denied this allegation and has lodged a complaint with Chief Justice Pius Langa and the JSC.
It was unclear whether the Hlophe matter would form part of the agenda later on Wednesday once interviews for two vacancies in the Transvaal Provincial Division of the High Court were concluded.
Langa on Tuesday confirmed that he had received a complaint about Hlophe, but said the JSC still needed to decide how to deal with the complaint.
Hlophe accused Desai 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”. — Sapa