Hlophe impeachment battle: Court dismisses application to set aside JSC findings

Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe has suffered defeat in court relating to his legal battle against the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).

Hlophe had filed a review application at the Johannesburg High Court, seeking to have the JSC’s gross misconduct findings against him set aside and that the matter goes back to the commission.

However, the JSC has come out victorious in the matter after the application was dismissed.

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In the judgment handed down on Thursday, the high court also dismissed Hlophe’s request to order Parliament to convene a hearing on the impeachment.

“The application to refer the matter to the National Assembly to re-hear the question of gross misconduct is dismissed,” the court ruled.

The court also ordered each party involved in the application to pay their costs.

Gross misconduct

Hlophe’s impeachment stems from the JSC’s August 2021 findings.

At the time, the JSC found that Hlophe had improperly tried to cajole two Constitutional Court (ConCourt) justices to violate their oaths of office by ruling in favour of former president Jacob Zuma.

The matter related to the validity of searches during the arms deal investigation of Zuma and French arms company Thales’ local subsidiary, Thint, in 2008.

READ MORE: JSC’s findings against Hlophe cannot be probed again, Parliament told

The commission concluded that Hlophe was guilty of gross misconduct based on the Judicial Conduct Tribunal’s findings.

The JSC’s report was sent to the National Assembly which then referred the matter to the committee on justice.

The report was referred to the committee by National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula so they could consider the procedural aspects of the impeachment and report back to the House once done.