The JSC exceeded its mandate to place the president in a corner in which exercising his wide powers to select the next chief justice have become fettered by popular concerns
The recommendation is not binding on President Cyril Ramaphosa but the legal community says it would be difficult to ignore, given its historic import and ruling party backing
The chairperson of the state capture commission and acting chief justice said he had no bias in favour of the president or any against his predecessor, but proceeded on the basis of evidence, without thought as to whether it could deny him the post of chief justice
The Gauteng judge president’s words turned prophetic as he came under sustained political attack in his interview for the post of chief justice
The Judicial Service Commission said legal skills topped the list but it would consult further once the new chief justice, who will also chair the entity, has been named
Dali Mpofu, arguing for the former president’s leave to appeal the high court’s refusal to remove prosecutor Billy Downer from his arms deal trial, hinted at a constitutional court challenge
Defence advocate Dali Mpofu SC argued it would be ‘abuse’ if Mafe were to be detained for months only to be found ‘sane’
Parliament and the Democratic Alliance are challenging the high court ruling that a judge may not form part of the panel conducting a preliminary inquiry as to whether there are grounds for impeaching the public protector
Jacob Zuma has laid charges claiming that Billy Downer, and the NPA, have irredeemably tainted the arms deal corruption charges that have haunted him since 2005
With legal challenges to his medical parole looming, the former president’s lawyers opted to first argue for the removal of the prosecutor
Judge Piet Koen is expected to rule in late October on the former president’s latest stab at acquittal on corruption charges stemming from the arms deal
The former president was absent from court, but his counsel argued that health matters be left aside, so as to hear his case for the removal of Billy Downer
The former president’s undisclosed illness looks set to force another delay in a trial almost two decades in the making
Paddy Harper isn’t the only one who’s broke: everyone from Zuma to Luthuli House, never mind the chronically unemployed, is feeling the pinch these days
The NPA argued there was no need for Zuma to testify in the special plea application to have Billy Downer removed as prosecutor and, hence, no need to postpone the matter
The state argues Zuma’s rights as an accused will not be violated if his bid for prosecutor Billy Downer’s removal and his acquittal is heard virtually
Mpofu’s argument that Zuma was denied his constitutional rights by apex court’s prison sentence for contempt shot down as ‘absurd’
The former president’s counsel argued that the Constitutional Court could not have the first and final word on Zuma’s fate and further, failed to afford him all his rights
The former president’s case fell ‘like a house of cards’ because he approached the high court, which cannot interfere with a constitutional court order
The Pietermaritzburg high court has reserved judgment on the former president’s urgent application to stay his warrant of arrest, leaving it moot whether the police will respect a deadline by the apex court to take him into custody before midnight on Wednesday
Dali Mpofu ‘kitchen-sinked’ the case for jurisdiction, but the Zondo commission will counter that the former president’s only avenue is the apex court
The ex-president will be imprisoned for contempt of court, like a local Al Capone. Whether the NPA pursues state capture charges remains to be seen
The former president’s lawyers on Friday gave notice that they would be bringing urgent application in both the apex and high courts
The fact that the ANC’s rule 25.7 may have been a narrowing of the party’s 2017 resolutions on corruption did not render it unlawful, Wim Trengove argued for the ruling party
Even noble intent could not rescue the step-aside rule, counsel for the suspended secretary general told the Johannesburg high court, but in fact there was only factionalism
The judge recognised the delegation of power located in the ANC’s national executive committee to the secretary general and the deputy secretary general
The former president argues that the National Prosecuting Authority is so deeply compromised that it cannot lawfully lead evidence against him
Counsel argued the National Assembly had not delegated its power on weighing if there were grounds to remove the public protector, but canvassed advice
Advocate Dali Mpofu asked the high court to set aside parliament’s rules for an impeachment process and send legislators back to the drawing board
The public protector is not challenging her fitness to hold office, but the rule enabling the National Assembly to remove her from office
A political trial within a trial is indicated after Zuma’s counsel’s raise the spectre of oral evidence in its move for the prosecutor’s removal and for charges to be dropped
The new counsel for the former president read part of his plea for the prosecutor’s removal and ultimately his acquittal out in court