Judges lash Zuma's party for 'offensive' attack

The Western Cape High Court has not only dismissed an application by Mkhonto we Sizwe Party (MKP) deputy president John Hlophe and his party for leave to appeal an interim order preventing him from being a member of the Judicial Services Commission (JSC), but it also took took a strong stand against the MKP’s comments on its decision, notes Legalbrief. The court said the MKP's remarks on its order ‘grossly exceeds the bounds of legitimate comment and is deliberately intended to impugn the dignity and effectiveness of the court and the judiciary’ (see below). Hlophe was prohibited from participating in any JSC activities pending a review of the National Assembly's decision to designate him for the body, reports News24. The Democratic Alliance (DA), later joined by NGOs Freedom Under Law (FUL) and Corruption Watch, approached the Western Cape High Court to review the decision to designate Hlophe to the commission. In September 2024, a full Bench ruled in favour of the DA and the two NGOs. The MKP then appealed the decision. It also launched an urgent application in the Gauteng High Court to halt the JSC interviews until Hlophe could be part of them. The interviews were in October. That application also failed. Subsequent to the dismissal of the urgent application, Hlophe resigned from the JSC. In the judgment delivered by the full Bench, the judges ruled that there were no ‘prospects of success’ in the appeal brought by the MKP. News24 notes the court also found that with Hlophe having resigned from the JSC, his matter had become moot. Therefore, there was no reason for the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) to hear it.

The full Bench also dealt with the MKP statement released after the ruling. News24 notes the statement attacked the judiciary, the DA and the two NGOs – going as far as accusing FUL and Corruption Watch of being ‘racists’ and ‘agents of white monopoly capital’. ‘This wanton attack on the judiciary cannot and shall not be tolerated by our courts in the interests of preserving the rule of law and safeguarding the institutional integrity of our judicial system,’ the judgment reads. The judges further described the statement by the party as ‘deeply offensive’. ‘Describing a judgment in the terms quoted above is deeply offensive, disrespectful and contemptuous. It grossly exceeds the bounds of legitimate comment and is deliberately intended to impugn the dignity and effectiveness of the court and the judiciary.’ It added: ‘Instead of dealing with the facts and the law, the applicants chose to attack the respondents utilising baseless and highly defamatory statements that FUL is racist and an “agent of white monopoly capital”. This smacks of gutter politics and can hardly be expected of an organisation that represents voters in Parliament.’ The judges added that the press release was not only a ‘wholly unjustified attack’ on the court’s decision and the judiciary, but also reflected poorly on the MKP and the individuals who drafted and issued it. It also said that MKP president Jacob Zuma and Hlophe had not ‘publicly distanced themselves from the scandalising statement made of this court’. ‘Section 173 of the Constitution provides the basis upon which the court is entitled to protect its processes. This is more the case when some members of one of the three arms of government go on a frolic of their own to nonchalantly scandalise and denigrate the third arm of government contrary to the explicit provisions of the Constitution,’ the judgment reads. ‘It is constitutionally imperative for all organs of state – including the courts – to take it upon themselves to stem the tide of unbridled and contemptuous attacks that some individuals and even political parties wish to unleash on our judiciary processes and the rule of law which is the cornerstone of our democracy.’

Full News24 report