Attack on Hlophe seen as threat to judicial independence

‘It is quite disturbing. In the history of the judiciary, we cannot recall in living memory, where there has been such vituperative reporting,’ said the association’s Western Cape chairman, Dumisa Ntsebeza. The association believed that a series of attacks on Hlophe had everything to do with the fact that the division was headed by a black judge. ‘We are very concerned. The ad hominem attacks on Judge Hlophe are very seriously undermining the office of the Judge President and the independence of the judiciary … We run the risk of undermining the office and of a serious breakdown in our system.’ Ntsebeza was referring to the latest row in the Cape High Court after a report in Noseweek, which was reprinted in a Johannesburg-based daily newspaper. Hlophe was accused of calling a local attorney ‘a piece of white s..t’ and suggesting that he return to Holland. In a subsequent interview with The Mercury, Hlophe denied the allegations. Full report in The Mercury