The JSC should be restructured and ground rules imposed on its members

The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) is becoming a joke – thanks to certain members who turned it into a platform to pursue their political agendas.

Society has always respected judges as honourable people. But when they get rubbished by politicians in front of your eyes, you wonder whether they still remain honourable after all the public humiliation.

There is nothing wrong with the rigorousness in the process of interviewing candidates for the bench, or to fill vacancies for any judicial post, including that of the chief justice.

But there is something wrong when they are being rubbish so badly by JSC members who attacked the judiciary on public platforms simply because judges found against comrades to whom the interviewers are aligned politically.

The EFF is an extension of the Jacob Zuma camp or the radical economic transformation (RET) elements within the ANC.

ALSO READ: Parliament explains Sona budget increase

They had a tea party with their hero at his Nkandla homestead not long ago so to hear its leaders fighting Zuma’s battles against certain judges in the JSC came as no surprise.

Also not so long ago, the judiciary was made
to walk to the 10th floor of Luthuli House to account for their “unwelcomed” judgments.

For years since Zuma was charged both for rape and the arms deal, the judiciary had been under severe attack from him and his followers. It reached a tipping point when a sitting Cabinet minister not only insulted black judges, whom she accused them of being “mentally colonised”, she rubbished the constitution that she has sworn to upheld as minister.

One foresees a situation where particular political parties or their leaders could pose a danger to society, especially should they attain political power.

It is not hard to see subtle dictatorship or tyranny, which could easily graduate into fascism, even when it is disguised as normal political rhetoric.

Their modus operandi include continuously attacking the media and the judiciary simply because those politicians had a lot to hide.

The attacks directed at chief justice candidates such as Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo and Judge President Dustin Mlambo during the recent JSC interviews should be seen against this background.

ALSO READ: ‘Criticism is fine, but insults are unwelcomed’ – Mpofu on JSC interviews

The JSC has been turned into a farce deliberately as a tactic to scare judges so that they fear to impose relevant sentences against guilty politicians.

Judges should not be made to answer for their rulings to the same criminal suspects who should appear before courts for their crimes. Instead, judges must account to their fellow judges
in the JSC as a peer review mechanism.

The JSC should be restructured and ground rules imposed on members during the interviews. Questions based on rumours and gossip should not be tolerated and patronising comments against female candidates should be
banned and offenders punished accordingly.

Politicians should be removed from the JSC. The body should have only judges and representatives from the lawyers’ associations, the government, civil society and business.

It should be modelled on the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac), where all partners enjoy equal status and their views are respected and often adopted as policy by government.