Calls grow for Dali Mpofu to be removed from Judicial Service Commission

Calls are mounting for the removal of Dali Mpofu SC from the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).

The Pretoria Society of Advocates has written to the General Council of the Bar (GCB) calling for the advocate's removal.

This follows reports and analyses based on questions Mpofu asked candidates nominated for the chief justice position last week. Particular reference was made to a question he asked Gauteng judge president Dunstan Mlambo about rumours of sexual harassment accusing him.

His questions to Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) president Mandisa Maya were also found to be sexist.

“To say that the process followed and the treatment of certain nominees, including acting chief justice [Raymond] Zondo and judge president Mlambo, was unfortunate would be an extreme understatement. It was shameful and has certainly done nothing to improve the reputation of the judiciary or the profession,” the Pretoria Society of Advocates said in a statement.

The society said it was particularly perturbed by Mpofu’s behaviour and “unacceptable” performance during the interviews.

“Mpofu SC in the interview of judge president Mlambo descended into a character assassination where the judge president was without prior warning confronted with the allegation of a rumour that he was guilty of the sexual harassment of female aspiring acting judges,” said the organisation.

In a separate statement, the GCB expressed disapproval at the way in which some of the candidates were treated by a number of the commissioners and, in particular, Mpofu’s conduct.

“His inappropriate questioning of the candidates for appointment to the highest judicial position in the land, that of chief justice, is seen to have brought the profession into disrepute,” the GCB said.

The organisation said Mpofu’s and EFF leader Julius Malema’s line of questioning of the candidates created an impression that they were using the JSC as a platform for some political end.

“The spurious ad hominem attacks on Mlambo JP, during the course of which resort was had to highly destructive, and clearly unsubstantiated, “rumours” of sexual harassment of applicants for acting appointments, for which, on Mpofu SC’s own version, there was no factual basis, is seen to have been employed simply to taint the reputation of the honourable judge president and exclude him from consideration for appointment on this fabricated ground alone.

“The sexist nature of Mpofu SC’s questioning of SCA president Maya, resorting at the commencement of his questioning to totally inappropriate sexual innuendo, which was offensive and, once again, unprofessional and lacking in the decorum which the platform and interviewing process required, has heightened the concern,” said the GCB.

It said the pending disciplinary charges against Mpofu regarding his conduct at the state capture commission of inquiry should have disqualified him from representing the advocates’ profession on the JSC for purposes of interviewing the candidates, in particular Zondo.

“The GCB has been requested by a number of constituent bars and individual members to seek the replacement of Mpofu SC on the JSC and is in discussions with AFT to that end,” the organisation said.

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