JSC's Hlophe meeting will deal with procedural issues

The JSC said the meeting would be concerned with procedural preliminaries and 'not with determining the factual allegations underlying the complaints'. A Cape Times report says legal representatives of the complainants would have the opportunity to address the commission. The agenda set out would determine which commissioners would officiate in all, or any, of the further stages of the complaints procedure and whether the Constitutional Court judges and Hlophe - purely from the papers at this stage - had made out a prima facie case of gross misconduct within the meaning of Section 177 (1)(a) of the Constitution. Full Cape Times report (subscription needed)

Concern has been raised over the effect the Hlophe and Zuma matters' are having on the justice system. Hlophe's attack on Chief Justice Pius Langa and his deputy, Judge Dikgang Moseneke, as well as a controversial letter sent by President-in-waiting Jacob Zuma's attorney, Michael Hulley, to the Constitutional Court warning that the way it handles its complaint against Hlophe would have 'consequences' for SA's 'confidence' in the Bench, are worrying, according to Freedom Front Plus spokesperson on Justice, Dr Frik van Heerden. He is quoted in a report in The Citizen as saying: 'SA is facing a constitutional crisis if the courts cannot apply the law impartially without fear, favour or prejudice.' He called for transparency 'in the public interest, and in the interest of credibility and confidence in the Bench'. Full report in The Citizen