Judge Hlophe’s urgent review application to be held on Wednesday

Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe’s urgent review application will on Wednesday be heard by Deputy Judge President of the High Court in Johannesburg Roland Sutherland.

The court is expected to hear part A of Hlophe’s application against his impeachment.

He wants to interdict the decision to impeach him pending the outcome of the review court application.

In April, the Judicial Conduct Tribunal found Hlophe guilty of trying to influence two Constitutional Court Justices, Chris Jafta and Bess Nkabinde, in a matter involving then former President Jacob Zuma in 2008.

The matter is expected to be heard virtually by Sutherland, who is one of the two deputies of Gauteng Judge President Dunstan Mlambo.

Hlophe wants to interdict President Cyril Ramaphosa from suspending him.

This as the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) still has to meet to recommend whether he should be suspended while his impeachment process by the National Assembly is still ongoing.

Hlophe also wants to stop the National Assembly from continuing with the impeachment process pending the outcome of his review court application.

In his review application,  he wants the decision by the JSC and the Judicial Conduct Tribunal’s report to be set aside.

Gross misconduct

According to a statement issued by the Secretariat of Judicial Conduct Tribunal, the Tribunal has found Hlophe guilty of gross misconduct, as envisaged in section 177 of the Constitution.

The Tribunal compiled its report on the complaint lodged by the Justices of the Constitutional Court against him.

VIDEO: Legal Expert, Elton Hart responds to the tribunal’s report:

Constitutional Expert, Advocate Paul Hoffman says if anybody has a problem with Hlophe’s past judgments, they can take them on appeal.

In the video below, Hoffman is being interviewed: