The Judicial Service Commission’s (JSC) interrogation of Mogoeng Mogoeng’s suitability for the post of chief justice resumed in Cape Town on Sunday morning, with the commission wrangling over whether to accept a late submission from the Congress of South African Trade Unions.
Cosatu is calling on the JSC to recommend against Mogoeng’s appointment.
“Although Mogoeng met the minimum criteria for appointment, his judgments showed a mindset and values that were inconsistent with the Constitution,” Cosatu said in its submission sent to the JSC on Saturday.
He also showed a lack of sensitivity to a court’s role in protecting vulnerable groups, including minors.
Cosatu asked President Jacob Zuma to re-open the nomination process in order to identify more suitable candidates.
Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke, who is chairing the interview, said he had made the decision to place the Cosatu submission on the desks of commissioners.
“I made the decision that it should be on your desks,” he said.
“It is a matter that is in the public domain. It is unimaginable that chairperson could withhold it from commission.”
‘Prejudice’
Moseneke said it was up to the commission to decide what to do with it. There was however, an issue of prejudice.
“There is an issue of prejudice, an obvious one,” Moseneke said.
On Monday morning, many of these commissioners had argued against a submission by the Democratic Alliance’s Hendrik Schmidt, that discussion should take place about whether nominations for more candidates ought to be reopened. Further discussion on the matter is expected to take place.
Mogoeng was asked about his ethics in not recusing himself in cases prosecuted by his wife (there were no clear guidelines, but he did feel “discomfort” at the time) and his paucity of seminal, reported-upon judgments and ability to inspire and lead the Constitutional Court and the larger judiciary (“I have full confidence in my intellectual depth”).
He also attempted to rebut perceptions that he was sympathetic to the executive by citing four cases where he had ruled against government and denied claims that he had a close relationship with Zuma that might have influenced the president’s choice.
Mogoeng said he had “no relationship whatsoever” with Zuma, and stated that a 2008 meeting with the president — exposed by the Mail & Guardian — had been their first and that he had met the president three times since then. But Mogoeng reiterated that he had spoken to Zuma only at their first meeting, and their last meeting, which took place when he was informed of the president’s decision to nominate him for the chief justice position.
Mogoeng added that he did not believe this would lead to a “corrosion of the separation of powers”. — Additional reporting by Sapa
President Jacob Zuma has nominated Constitutional Court judge Mogoeng Mogoeng as the new chief justice. For more news on the controversy surrounding the proposed appointment visit our special report.
