Keen interest in upcoming JSC meeting

There is significant interest in the October 2026 meeting of the South African Judicial Service Commission (JSC), which begins today. Legalbrief Africa reports that the agenda includes reforms to the JSC’s processes, judicial vacancies and a pile of serious cases of judicial misconduct. Propped on top of the agenda are proposed reforms to how the JSC conducts interviews. In April, the JSC prepared a document to codify and revise how it conducts its business following widespread criticism over its interview process. The Daily Maverick reports that Mbekezeli Benjamin, a research and advocacy officer at Judges Matter, points out that key proposals include a new ethics enforcement mechanism, and a new voting mechanism to replace the JSC’s current system where vacancies are left open even when there are suitable candidates for appointment. The commission must also consider appointing Judicial Conduct Tribunals for several Gauteng judges facing serious allegations of misconduct which risk harming the judiciary’s reputation. In a first for SA’s history, Judge Portia Phahlane is on trial for corruption for allegedly accepting bribes worth R2m to rule in favour of a litigant. He notes that after her arrest in November 2025, the JSC passed up the opportunity to immediately suspend Phahlane pending a tribunal investigation. Instead, it referred her to the JCC which, in May 2026, recommended the same tribunal investigation. ‘Nearly a year after the arrest, and much reputational damage done to the judiciary, the JSC now has to either endorse or reject the tribunal investigation recommendation,’ Benjamin notes.