WITH only hours left before his interview by the Judicial Service Commission, civil society organisations have upped the tempo of resistence against chief justice nominee Judge Mogoeng Mogoeng.
President Jacob Zuma has been under fire for nominating Mogoeng as his preferred candidate to head the country's judiciary.
"We want Mogoeng to admit he made a wrong judgment call and want him to make a public commitment to gender equality. If he does not admit he was wrong ... he should not be chief justice," Sonke Gender Justice Network head Desmond Lesejane said.
"I worry that the chief justice is supposed to be the custodian of the Constitution and Mogoeng's commitment to gender equality is highly questionable," director of the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, Sisonke Msimang, said.
"The JSC needs to ask the judge questions about how he sees himself as a Christian and about how these beliefs will influence his interpretation of the Constitution. They need to ask him how he feels about sex work, abortion and the killing of black lesbian activists," People Opposing Women Abuse director Nhlanhla Mokwena said.
This week - through its attorneys - the Institute for Accountability in South Africa has objected to Mogoeng's nomination as "unconstitutional".
Ifaisa's argument is that Zuma should have consulted with leaders of various political parties and the JSC in identifying the preferred nominee(s) from a pool of potential candidates.
"Given the extraordinary quality of the Bench generally, and the judges sitting in the Constitutional Court specifically, it cannot be that there is only one suitable person to be considered."
Most of the controversy surrounding Mogoeng's nomination arises from some of his previous judgments. They include:
- The National Association of Democratic Lawyers has questioned Mogoeng's support of the death penalty in Bophuthatswana in 1988. He allegedly pushed for a convicted man to be executed.
- In 2001 Mogoeng overturned a two-year jail term for a man who tied his girlfriend to the back of his car and dragged her for 50metres. He found the man had been "provoked" and instead fined him R4000.
- In 2007, also in the North West high court, he suspended a five-year jail sentence of a man who attempted to rape his wife. Mogoeng reasoned that her husband's "desire to make love to his wife must have overwhelmed him".
- In a more recent case, Mogoeng disagreed with other Constitutional Court judges who ruled that a person could not be defamed by being labelled a homosexual.
Pressure on Mogoeng
WITH only hours left before his interview by the Judicial Service Commission, civil society organisations have upped the tempo of resistence against chief justice nominee Judge Mogoeng Mogoeng.
President Jacob Zuma has been under fire for nominating Mogoeng as his preferred candidate to head the country's judiciary.
"We want Mogoeng to admit he made a wrong judgment call and want him to make a public commitment to gender equality. If he does not admit he was wrong ... he should not be chief justice," Sonke Gender Justice Network head Desmond Lesejane said.
"I worry that the chief justice is supposed to be the custodian of the Constitution and Mogoeng's commitment to gender equality is highly questionable," director of the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, Sisonke Msimang, said.
"The JSC needs to ask the judge questions about how he sees himself as a Christian and about how these beliefs will influence his interpretation of the Constitution. They need to ask him how he feels about sex work, abortion and the killing of black lesbian activists," People Opposing Women Abuse director Nhlanhla Mokwena said.
This week - through its attorneys - the Institute for Accountability in South Africa has objected to Mogoeng's nomination as "unconstitutional".
Ifaisa's argument is that Zuma should have consulted with leaders of various political parties and the JSC in identifying the preferred nominee(s) from a pool of potential candidates.
"Given the extraordinary quality of the Bench generally, and the judges sitting in the Constitutional Court specifically, it cannot be that there is only one suitable person to be considered."
Most of the controversy surrounding Mogoeng's nomination arises from some of his previous judgments. They include:
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending
Latest Videos