businessday

JUDICIAL Service Commission (JSC) member Fatima Chohan has expressed disappointment at the lack of interest in the posts of judge- president in North West and KwaZulu-Natal.

Chohan, commenting during interviews for the two posts, said on Friday it was disturbing that there was only one candidate for each of these posts.

Herbert Msimang, the current acting judge-president of KwaZulu- Natal, was interviewed to be permanently appointed in that division and Monica Leeuw, acting judge-president of North West, was interviewed for her permanent appointment to that division.

During Leeuw’s interview, Chohan said uncontested posts undermined the work of the commission, as judge-presidents played a “very critical role”.

Following the withdrawal of Judge Raymond Zondo as a candidate, the position of judge-president of the Labour Appeal Court and Labour Court is also uncontested. Supreme Court of Appeal Judge Dunstan Mlambo will be interviewed for the position today.

This leaves only the Eastern Cape judge-presidency and the Gauteng deputy judge-presidency contested.

Chohan asked Leeuw whether there was an “unspoken rule” that if someone was acting as judge-president, others did not make themselves available. Leeuw replied that in her division this was not the case. She said she was nominated by the three other senior judges in her division and that even if she had not been acting as judge-president, she would have made herself available.

At the close of the interviews, Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo clarified that there was no rule that the positions should not be contested just because one of the candidates was already acting in the post.

Ngcobo reminded the commission that with the Gauteng candidates, Willem van der Merwe had been acting in the post and the position was nonetheless being contested.

Despite being the only candidates for the job, Msimang and Leeuw were not given an easy ride by the JSC. Msimang was grilled by Sipho Mdluli, representing KwaZulu-Natal Premier Zweli Mkhize, on his “judicial temperament”. Mdluli said he had a reputation for impatience.

Msimang said during his interview that under the current judge- president of KwaZulu-Natal, Vuka Tshabalala, the division was “the most peaceful in the country”.

Msimang does have a reputation in legal circles for impatience. Two KwaZulu-Natal lawyers told Business Day he was “irascible” and impatient on the bench, but he was “revered” for his legal acumen.

Leeuw was also not spared by the commission. Commissioner Peace Mabe asked her whether she considered herself “an affirmative action candidate”. If appointed, Leeuw will be the first woman and first black woman appointed judge-president.

But with 10 years as a judge under her belt, Leeuw told the commission she did not think she would be appointed on the basis of affirmative action because she had the “necessary expertise” and was almost as experienced as the senior males in her division.

But Mabe said she would only vote for Leeuw on the basis of affirmative action, and that she expected Leeuw would empower other black women in a similar way.