The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has recommended that President Cyril Ramaphosa appoint judges Elizabeth Baartman, Phillip Coppin, and Petrus Arnolus Koen to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).
JSC spokesperson, advocate Sesi Baloyi SC, made the announcement on Monday night following the judicial body’s deliberations on the six candidates it interviewed for the three SCA vacancies.
Judges Coppin, Baartman, and Koen sit on the high courts of Gauteng, the Western Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal, respectively.
For the three SCA positions, a total of six applicants made the short list. The interviews began at the Maslow Hotel in Sandton, Johannesburg, on Monday.
Maya chairs the interviews
Other candidates who were interviewed are judges Mahendra Chetty, Nozuka Mjali, and Leonie Windell.
Chief Justice Mandisa Maya is presiding over the proceedings, her first time chairing JSC interviews since assuming office as chief justice on September 1.
The JSC is interviewing 54 shortlisted candidates to fill vacancies in the SCA, Land Court, Labour Court, Labour Appeal Court, and various divisions of the high court.
The JSC interviews will run until Wednesday next week. The interviews next week will take place at the NH Hotel, also in Sandton.
The JSC will conduct interviews on Tuesday for the vacant positions of deputy judge president at Land Court, judge president at Labour Court and Labour Appeal Court, and one judge at the Eastern Cape Division of the High Court, Mthatha.
Hlophe throws in the towel
Simultaneously, Dr John Hlophe, the impeached judge and former Western Cape judge president, who was the only representative of the MK Party on the JSC, resigned from the commission effective immediately.
In September, the Western Cape High Court granted an injunction to the DA, Freedom Under Law, and Corruption Watch prohibiting Hlophe from participating in the JSC interviews until their review application concerning the parliament’s nomination of him for the JSC was resolved.
The MK Party sought to postpone the JSC interviews until the resolution of the review application of parliament’s choice to nominate Hlophe to the JSC, but the Johannesburg High Court denied the party’s request on Saturday.
