Western Cape Judge President and Constitutional Court nominee Judge Hlophe was on Friday afternoon still waiting to hear whether the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) had dropped a probe against him that carried the risk of impeachment.
”I have heard from the media that the decision would be announced today [Friday],” he said.
”But I’ve not been told anything.”
Hlophe said he was not prepared to comment on a media report that he would return to work on Monday after a long enforced absence from the bench while the JSC dealt with a gross misconduct complaint against him.
The Independent Online reported on Friday that the JSC had decided to drop its investigation into the charges that were brought by the judges of the Constitutional Court last year.
JSC spokesperson Marumo Moerane said a decision would be announced later on Friday — nearly two weeks after it was taken by the commission.
The delay has created widespread expectations that the JSC will not proceed with a formal inquiry, removing the risk of impeachment and clearing Hlophe’s path to the Constitutional Court bench.
Moerane has blamed the delay on the difficulty of ensuring that all JSC members were happy with the stated reasons for the decision — which he said was ”very long”.
The judges laid the complaint while they were deliberating a judgement in a case involving Jacob Zuma, before he became president.
They said that Hlophe had made approaches to two judges, Bess Nkabinde and Chris Jafta, regarding the Zuma case.
The court eventually ruled against Zuma in that case.
But Hlophe lodged a counter-complaint that the judges of the highest court of the land violated his dignity by going public with their complaint before he had had a chance to address the issue.
A JSC preliminary investigation was conducted by a three-person panel made up of Moerane, Ishmael Semenya and Gauteng Judge President Bernard Ngoepe.
It held a public hearing where Hlophe, Nkabinde, Jafta, Chief Justice Pius Langa and Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke told their sides of the story. — Sapa