Zondo is the ‘safe’ choice to head up the judiciary – experts

Legal pundits have described Raymond Zondo as a “safe” choice to head up the country’s judiciary.

“All of the candidates were worthy but he is the most experienced and the one with the greatest gravitas,” constitutional law expert advocate Paul Hoffman, who heads up Accountability Now, said on Friday.

And, said Judges Matter’s Mbekezeli Benjamin, he was “a safe and solid, if not very adventurous, pick”.

“He has judicial leadership experience, having been deputy chief justice for five years and this provides continuity,” Benjamin said.

The Presidency announced Zondo as the new chief justice via a statement on Thursday. His term is set to begin on 1 April. Following former chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng’s retirement last October, President Cyril Ramaphosa, for the first time in history – called for public nominations for his successor.

A list of eight nominees met the basic requirements and this was further whittled down to four: Zondo, Supreme Court of Appeal Judge President Mandisa Maya, Constitutional Court Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga and Gauteng High Court Judge President Dunstan Mlambo.

The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) – which the president is constitutionally mandated to consult before appointing the chief justice – interviewed all four last month.

The interview process was mired in controversy over awkward and in some instances patently unfair lines of questioning adopted by some of its members, as well as it’s public announcement that it was recommending Maya, which Ramaphosa has since said was beyond its remit.

“In the circumstances it was probably just as well the president did not allow himself to be misguided by the recommendations of the JSC because it has no constitutional mandate to make recommendations and because that recommendation was clouded by political considerations and political interference,” said Hoffman on Friday.

The line of questioning in Maya’s interview, widely described as a “sweetheart interview”, may have hurt her chances.

She appeared the frontrunner at one stage but her interview was dominated by questions about her gender and the fact that she would have been the country’s first female chief justice. She didn’t have the same opportunities her male counterparts – whose interviews were markedly more focused on issues of law – to put her impressive judicial accomplishments on display.

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“They basically trivialised her interview,” Hoffman said.

“And as a consequence, it wasn’t a level playing field between all the candidates.”

Benjamin said while it may have made a difference, he did not think it was a decisive factor.

“It seems more like the president was playing a longer game and has an eye on appointing her in future, while also appointing Zondo now,” he said.

The president has indicated he will be nominating Maya to succeed Zondo as deputy chief justice. And with Zondo only having two years left on the Constitutional Court bench before his term is up, Ramaphosa could be lining Maya up to ascend to the position.

But a controversial issue that came to the fore during her interview was her relationship with controversial Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe, whom she likened to a “big brother”.

“It brings her impartiality under a question mark, maybe through no fault of her own, but it tends to put her in a position where she’s sort of damned by association,” Hoffman said.