Law bodies welcome rapidity of CJ decision

Legal organisations have praised the Judicial Conduct Committee (JCC) for its speed in reaching a decision on a complaint against SA's Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, saying it was a welcome sign that some legal disciplinary processes work, notes a Sunday Times report. Thursday's decision from the JCC, the first of its kind against a Chief Justice, directed Mogoeng, within 10 days, to apologise and retract his comments in June last year about SA's foreign policy towards Israel, finding that he had breached the code of judicial conduct by becoming involved in political controversy or activity. Mogoeng may still appeal against the decision and has a month to do so, in terms of the Judicial Service Commission Act. His comments that led to three separate complaints to the JCC were made during a webinar hosted by The Jerusalem Post. After quoting the Bible, he said ‘as a Christian’ he had to ‘love and pray for Israel because I know hatred for Israel by me and for my nation will – can only – attract unprecedented curses upon our nation’. In his decision, Judge Phineas Mojapelo, of the JCC, said: ‘Judges are to stay out of politics, and are only permitted to pronounce on the legal and constitutional boundaries that may apply to those politics.’ Mogoeng's spokesperson Nathi Mncube would not comment on Friday on how the Chief Justice would respond.

Craig Watt-Pringle, chair of the General Council of the Bar (GCB), said the GCB welcomed the speed with which the decision was reached. Some complaints, he noted, such as those involving John Hlophe, Judge President of the Western Cape, had dragged on for years. According to the Sunday Times report, Watt-Pringle said the Bar always strongly defended and stood behind the judiciary when it was attacked for its judgments. Judges spoke through their judgments, which could be corrected on appeal. But they had to be careful not to court controversy and express opinions of a political nature ‘when this makes them fair game for the criticism from which we would ordinarily seek to protect them’, he said. The chair of the Pan-African Bar Association of SA (Pabasa), Nasreen Rajab-Budlender, also commended the speed of the decision. She said Pabasa welcomed the fact that a constitutionally mandated process was functioning ‘even in respect of the highest judicial office in the country’. But she said Pabasa would wait to hear Mogoeng's response before commenting further. The Law Society of SA said it would study the JCC decision and comment later if necessary.

Full Sunday Times report (subscription needed)