Supreme Court of Appeal Interviews 2024

NOMINATION OF JUDGE ZONDI AS DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF THE SCA

On 27 February 2024 President Cyril Ramaphosa nominated Justice Dumisani Zondi as the next deputy president of the Supreme Court of Appeal. This is the fourth most senior role in the South African judicial hierarchy.

In addition to his role as the third most senior judge of the SCA, Justice Zondi is a longtime member of the Judicial Conduct Committee (responsible for adjudicating cases of judicial misconduct. He is currently the judge president of the vitally important Electoral Court, a specialist court established to resolve all electoral disputes – including the vote count, which may influence who ultimately become president of South Africa.

In terms of section 174(3) of the Constitution, the president needs only to consult the Judicial Service Commission before making this appointment. As per tradition, the JSC provides its opinion in this process through a public interview with the candidate.

This interview is scheduled for 21 May 2024, which is out of the usual April/ October cycle.

SCA INTERVIEWS RE-RUN

In addition to the Deputy President position, the SCA must also fill three judge vacancies that have arisen in the last while.

The second highest court in the land, the SCA plays a vital role in adjudicating all appeals from the high courts and providing guidance on numerous questions of law to all courts in the country. Unlike the Constitutional Court, the SCA is empowered to deal with appeals concerning factual questions and not just legal questions. Judgments from the SCA usually provide useful distillation and interpretation of some of the sticky legal questions.

In October 2023 the JSC interviewed 10 candidates to fill four vacancies at the SCA. However, after two days of interviews, the JSC resolved to only recommend two candidates and left the other two vacancies open. This resolution was challenged in court by NGO Freedom Under Law, who asked the court to set it aside on the ground of legal irrationality. After negotiation, the JSC and FUL agreed to an out-of-court settlement where the JSC would rerun the SCA interviews process to fill the two remaining vacancies.

In addition to the two original vacancies, the JSC announced that it would also be filling a third vacancy and called for nominations.

Ten judges of the High Court were nominated as candidates for the three SCA vacancies. Interviews will take place on 20 May 2024.

The ten candidates are a kaleidoscope of SA’s demographics and are drawn from almost all corners of the country, including Gauteng, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Western Cape.

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