Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe

The previous post mentioned Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe.

A few quotes might give some idea of the type of person Zuma may be considering for Chief Justice and the environment in which he operates.

Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe

"uBaba [father, as Zuma is known by his supporters] knows that they [his enemies] want him behind bars. But he must decide who he wants as the next chief justice," Hlophe said.

"It was not his [Langa's] agenda." The Chief Justice was serving other political forces. "The old man should have stayed out of it and waited to retire," Hlophe said. "I am not going to shake a
white man's hand."

"I may get killed -- I'm not bullet-proof," Hlophe said. He cited Zulu monarch King Zwelethini, who had been sent into lengthy exile for his own safety after his uncle, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, displayed regal ambitions.

He said that although it was Zuma's prerogative to appoint the next chief justice, he believed that the appointment of Constitutional Court Judge Sandile Ngcobo as a "stop-gap" chief justice would give "his [Zuma's] enemies a chance to regroup".

He said the Constitutional Court judges as a group, which he labelled "green ropes; white justice", had "sold out" in perpetuating a Eurocentric jurisprudence.

Hlophe repeated his call for the law to be "Africanised" but offered no tangible examples of how this could be done, given that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land.

These from a comment article in Mail & Gaurdian.

Zuma and Judges

This title is complex enough to write a full blog about! so this is just about the successor to Judge Langa the retiring Chief Justice.

At this stage there is surely much suspicion as Zuma bypasses the current Deputy Chief Justice for someone much closer to his party possibly a stop gap until he may be able to nominate Hlope