The Johannesburg High Court will decide on Friday if it will appoint a full bench of judges to deal with a case involving Cape Judge President John Hlophe.
”This matter is of importance … the request for me to consider a full bench is totally in order. It is indeed something I considered myself,” Judge Phineas Mojapelo said on Thursday.
The request was made by all parties involved in the case, which has been set to continue at 10am on Friday.
The judge said he would have to check on the availability of the bench.
Hlophe is applying for an order in the Johannesburg High Court to have action by the Constitutional Court against him declared unlawful. He is challenging the court’s action in announcing in a media release in June that he was under investigation for trying to influence judges unduly.
He says the court abused his rights when it made the matter public.
All parties in the case — the lawyers representing Hlophe, the Constitutional Court and the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) — agreed that the application was urgent.
”I am grateful to the representatives that you share the need … urgency is not a matter that needs to be argued,” said the judge.
The lawyer representing the Constitutional Court, Gilbert Marcus, SC, told the judge that a full bench was required because of the ”extraordinary nature” of the case.
The charges against Hlophe revolve around the Constitutional Court case dealing with search-and-seizure raids in African National Congress president Jacob Zuma’s corruption case.
The Constitutional Court’s judges claimed that Hlophe tried to influence improperly Judge Bess Nkabinde and acting Judge Chris Jafta to find in favour of Zuma in his appeal to the court.
Hlophe is also asking the high court for an order to stop the JSC hearing on the same matter against him.
Last Tuesday, the JSC dismissed an application by Hlophe for the recusal of five JSC commissioners in the matter. Hlophe claimed the commissioners were biased because they had dealt with another case against him, where he was accused of receiving money from investment group Oasis without asking the justice minister’s permission. — Sapa