From the 17th to the 21st April 2023 the Judicial Service Commission will be interviewing 22 candidates for 19 vacancies within the superior courts of South Africa. Among those will be two important leadership positions: Judge President of the Mpumalanga High Court, and the President of the Supreme Court of Appeal. However, what is of […]
There is a huge expectation that the JSC sitting from 4 – 8 April will signal that the institution has turned a corner. And there are some early indications for optimism.
Following a grueling and rowdy series of Judicial Service Commission interviews, the ball of who will become the next chief justice of South Africa is now firmly in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s court. As many have stated, the decision ultimately lies with the President, despite the JSC’s recommendation of Supreme Court of Appeal President Mandisa Maya. […]
Over the last few years, the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has vastly improved its approach to gender parity among judicial candidates. It has begun to ask important questions about the bench as a working environment for women, and to gauge ideas from both male and female candidates on removing barriers in the profession that stop […]
Originally the Constitutional Court was established as the final court on all constitutional matters. However, following the 17th amendment Act of 2012 it is now South Africa’s highest court on all matters. The Constitutional Court consists of the Chief Justice, the Deputy Chief Justice and nine other judges. Thus, the Court’s bench is supposed to […]
Throughout the year we write articles to share more information about the JSC, the judges’ interview process and the South African judicial system as a whole. Here is a list of our most popular articles in 2018. 1. The JSC’s uneven line of questioning on judicial transformation Posted: 8 June 2018 Section 174 (2) of […]
After the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) Interviews on 2 October 2018, the Chief Justice sat down with Judges Matter and the media to address the question of Constitutional Court vacancies. The question raised was to address the fact that in 2018 the JSC did not advertise (or call for nominations) for Constitutional Court vacancies even […]
This article was written by Paul Hoffman SC and was originally published in the Daily Maverick on 13 August 2018. Daily Maverick columnist, Stephen Grootes, has cast aspersions on the legitimacy of the judiciary in a recent wide-ranging piece of political analysis. It is important to interrogate the legitimacy of the judiciary carefully as it […]
The Constitutional Court currently has two vacancies open. These vacancies have not been advertised in the call for nominations for the JSC’s October 2018 interviews. This has surprised many people, as the vacancies have stood open since June 2016 and January 2018 respectively – so it is not as if these have only suddenly become […]
In a ground-breaking decision on 25 April 2018, the Constitutional Court ordered the release of the records of a deliberation of the JSC in October 2012, during which the JSC took a decision to advise the President to appoint certain candidates as judges of the Western Cape Division of the High Court, and not to […]
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