A conciliatory President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday welcomed a statement by the opposition that they would prefer Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke to his nominee, Sandile Ngcobo, for chief justice.
Zuma said he was happy to have input from the parties, who have protested that he failed to solicit their comment on the nomination in a serious manner as demanded by the Constitution.
”That is what I wanted, so they can help me if there are some things I overlooked,” Zuma said after a meeting with the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) parliamentary leader Athol Trollip.
”It will help me relook before I take a final decision.”
The DA, Congress of the People (Cope) and the Independent Democrats (ID) on Wednesday said Moseneke would make a better candidate because he had been an understudy for the job for the past four years.
They suggested he was overlooked by Zuma because he had alienated the African National Congress (ANC) by saying justice must not be beholden to the elite but act for the greater good of all.
The parties said Ngcobo’s nomination was unconstitutional because the president failed to consult with the National Assembly and Judicial Service Commission (JSC) first.
They added that Zuma had shown he considered his nomination to be final and their comment to be irrelevant by saying at a media conference on August 6 that he had ”appointed a judge that I believe is capable” to replace retiring Chief Justice Pius Langa.
The president countered that he simply misspoke.
”It was a slip of the tongue, literally,” he said, and urged the opposition to rather focus on a letter he wrote to them in which he asked for comment on his ”nomination”.
He said it was unfortunate that the letter failed to reach the parties before he announced his choice.
”The letters were delayed,” he said.
The comments came after Zuma sent a letter to the opposition earlier on Wednesday in response to a written request from them that he restart the nomination process.
Zuma wrote that Ngcobo remained his preferred candidate, though he has not ”taken a final decision on whom to appoint”.
In his letter, Zuma told the opposition parties that in making his final decision, he would ”take into account any views the leaders of political parties may express about him [Ngcobo]”.
Zuma wrote that in his address to the press club he said the nomination of Ngcobo was ”subject to advice from the [JSC] and leaders of political parties represented in the National Assembly”.
”The use of the word ‘appoint’ in response to a question from the media present, was inadvertent and does not change the fact that I had decided merely to nominate Justice Ngcobo to this position,” Zuma explained.
”It is common cause that you first nominate, and then open the consultative process.”
Zuma wrote that the Constitution did not preclude the president from proposing a name and that, in the past, the president had asked opposition parties for their views on a name.
His letter, however, was roundly rejected by the opposition.
Cope demanded he withdraw his nomination of Ngcobo if he wants the position of chief justice to be seen as anything other than a political appointment.
That he announced a name before consulting with the National Assembly or JSC showed that he had ”no respect” for the opposition, said Cope spokesperson Philip Dexter.
ID leader Patricia de Lille said Zuma appeared to have made up his mind.
”He [Zuma] has nominated a person and he [Zuma] is also the person who is going to appoint [a new chief justice]. There is only one candidate,” she said.
”If he is trying to seek advice on who to appoint … and there is only one candidate and it’s his nomination, it’s a done deal.”
De Lille pointed out that Zuma was not asking opposition parties for their preferred candidates, but merely seeking their views on his preferred candidate. ”He’s already made up his mind,” she said.
The opposition parties ignored a deadline of Monday set by Zuma to comment on his nomination of Ngcobo to replace Langa, opting instead to go public a day later with the name of their preferred candidate for the post. — Sapa