THE South Gauteng High Court ordered yesterday that a preliminary
investigation into the dispute between Judge John Hlophe and judges of
the Constitutional Court will be held in public after all, writes Franny Rabkin in Business Day.
The investigation follows the Judicial Service Commission’s (JSC) decision to start all over in determining the complaints against the Western Cape’s judge president and the Constitutional Court judges after a court order set aside two days of a formal hearing begun by the JSC in April.
When the JSC revealed last week that the investigation would be closed and only a preliminary one, it sparked fears that the public would not get to hear the details of the dispute.
There was also the possibility that the investigation would find insufficient evidence to take it to a formal hearing.
Media houses opposed the closed hearing, and South Gauteng High Court judge Frans Malan ordered yesterday that it be open.
Today, a JSC subcommittee will interview Hlophe and the two judges at the centre of the complaint against him, judges Bess Nkabinde and Chris Jafta, Chief Justice Pius Langa and Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke. Malan said in his judgment that “the public is entitled to know (that the judiciary) functions consistently with the principles of independence, fairness and impartialityâ€ÂÂ.
Click here to read the full report, posted on Business Day's website.
