Dark cloud over the judiciary, says Cameron

The cloud that has hung over the judiciary for the past 12 years as a result of Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe’s misconduct charges has been darkened by new allegations against him by his deputy, Patricia Goliath, and his counter claims against Goliath. That’s the opinion of recently retired Constitutional Court Justice Edwin Cameron, according to a report by legal writer Karyn Maughan in Business Day. ‘Judge President Hlophe was accused by two of my colleagues, now former colleagues, of coming to the court to try to throw a case in favour of then Deputy President (Jacob) Zuma, who was later elected as President; a terribly serious charge,’ Cameron is quoted as saying. ‘If those two colleagues were lying, it was a terribly serious falsehood to bring against him. On the other hand, if they were telling the truth, a very serious thing. We still haven’t resolved that,’ he said. ‘I think what has happened in the Western Cape, without pronouncing at all on the rights and wrongs of it, only underscores the shadow that that whole saga leaves over our judiciary,’ he said. Hlophe has also lodged a counter-claim of misconduct charges against his deputy with the JSC.

The JSC still needs to determine what will happen with the as yet unresolved 2008 gross misconduct complaint brought against Hlophe by the Constitutional Court. That complaint has been stalled because of a dispute over the state’s payment to Hlophe’s attorney Barnabas Xulu. The JSC has reportedly told Business Day that this dispute is close to resolution. Cameron said the judiciary, which has been required to take a prominent role in deciding big social, political and economic disputes, needs to be ‘beyond reproach’. ‘It’s Caesar’s wife, isn’t it? That’s the metaphor in the English language: that Caesar’s wife must be seen to be above reproach. And that of course applies to the judiciary. We do pronounce, we do articulate, we do judge and we should be beyond reproach. ‘That is why I said in my closing speech at the Constitutional Court that the Hlophe saga, at that stage 11 years, now almost 12-years-old, was hanging over the judiciary like a cloud.’

Full Business Day report (subscription needed)