JSC make-up could lead to judicary 'capture' – ex-CJ

Former Chief Justice Raymond Zondo delivered a constitutional crisis warning on Thursday night when he called for the reduction of the number of politicians on the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), reports News24. During his Helen Suzman Foundation lecture, he also urged that the number of judicial members should be increased. He explained how a potential judicial capture by criminal syndicates could happen. ‘If we fail to act, we may live to regret it,’ he warned. He outlined a worst-case scenario, saying that under the current model of judicial appointments, a President and their party could ‘capture’ the judiciary. Zondo framed his lecture around allegations by prpvincial Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, which led to the establishment of the Madlanga Commission into alleged police/judiciary capture. He emphasised the seriousness of the allegations against the criminal justice system. He called for ‘more robust representation of judges within the JSC’ and said the way to do this was to curtail the presidential powers to appoint four additional JSC members.

'There is no reason the President should have that power,’ Zondo said. Of the 23-member JSC, only three are judicial representatives – the Chief Justice, the President of the SCA and a designated Judge President. ‘It seems to me that that’s a completely inadequate representation for a body that is about judges,’ he said. According to Zondo, if a party president is ever captured by interest groups, including criminal syndicates, it is possible for such a president and his party to achieve a JSC composition that can directly influence judicial appointments, Zondo said. News24 asked Zondo on the sidelines of the lecture if that was not what was seen under the Presidency of Jacob Zuma, but he responded: ‘I don’t think so'. ‘One, we don’t see judgments that went his way, which one would expect if he had captured certain members of the judiciary.’ ‘Two, during the (Zondo) commission, I, for four years, called upon the public that anyone who had evidence of any corruption or state capture evidence on the part of judges or members of the judiciary should come forward. There was nothing,’ he said. He doesn’t believe the judiciary has been captured at this stage or that there is any evidence to support that claim. ‘It may well be that in the Madlanga Commission, something will come out,’ he added.

Full News24 report