PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma is set to meet DA leader Helen Zille this evening in Pretoria to discuss his nomination of Mogoeng Mogoeng for the job of chief justice.
At the meeting Zille will ask Zuma to nominate other candidates for the top job and allow the Judicial Service Commission to choose the best person.
Zille told a press conference in Parliament yesterday that if Mogoeng became chief justice, he would be blindly loyal to the ANC.
"The most insidious effect it will have will be that judges, and aspiring judges who are still among the ranks of advocates, will have a clear idea of the cost to their careers of making findings that are contrary to what the ruling party's executive want," she said.
Zuma last month nominated only Mogoeng for the top justice job
"It seems that it is difficult to consult when the president has already made an announcement," Zille said.
Leading human rights lawyer and JSC commissioner Dumisa Ntsebeza reportedly wrote an e-mail to Advocates for Transformation saying that, though he preferred Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke for the top job, he would go along with Zuma's choice.
This, Zille said, "demonstrates that nominating just one candidate upfront, and going through the formulaic motions, is counter-productive to having a meaningful interaction".
Mogoeng was interviewed by the JSC over the weekend, with the JSC voting 16 to 7 to support Zuma's nomination.
A pastor in a church that believes homosexuality is a "deadly disease", Mogoeng was also a prosecutor for the Bophuthatswana bantustan government during the apartheid regime's last state of emergency.
He has the backing of the Black Lawyers Association, KwaZulu-Natal Bar Council, Johannesburg magistrates organisation and several individual lawyers.
But he has far more opponents than supporters - Cosatu, the Johannesburg and Cape Bar Councils, the Eastern Cape Society of Advocates, Wits and Pretoria universities' faculties of law, the IFP, DA, Independent Democrats, Women's Legal Centre, National Forum of Advocates, National Association of Democratic Lawyers and a host of civil society organisations.
Zille to meet Zuma over Mogoeng job
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma is set to meet DA leader Helen Zille this evening in Pretoria to discuss his nomination of Mogoeng Mogoeng for the job of chief justice.
At the meeting Zille will ask Zuma to nominate other candidates for the top job and allow the Judicial Service Commission to choose the best person.
Zille told a press conference in Parliament yesterday that if Mogoeng became chief justice, he would be blindly loyal to the ANC.
"The most insidious effect it will have will be that judges, and aspiring judges who are still among the ranks of advocates, will have a clear idea of the cost to their careers of making findings that are contrary to what the ruling party's executive want," she said.
Zuma last month nominated only Mogoeng for the top justice job
"It seems that it is difficult to consult when the president has already made an announcement," Zille said.
Leading human rights lawyer and JSC commissioner Dumisa Ntsebeza reportedly wrote an e-mail to Advocates for Transformation saying that, though he preferred Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke for the top job, he would go along with Zuma's choice.
This, Zille said, "demonstrates that nominating just one candidate upfront, and going through the formulaic motions, is counter-productive to having a meaningful interaction".
Mogoeng was interviewed by the JSC over the weekend, with the JSC voting 16 to 7 to support Zuma's nomination.
A pastor in a church that believes homosexuality is a "deadly disease", Mogoeng was also a prosecutor for the Bophuthatswana bantustan government during the apartheid regime's last state of emergency.
He has the backing of the Black Lawyers Association, KwaZulu-Natal Bar Council, Johannesburg magistrates organisation and several individual lawyers.
But he has far more opponents than supporters - Cosatu, the Johannesburg and Cape Bar Councils, the Eastern Cape Society of Advocates, Wits and Pretoria universities' faculties of law, the IFP, DA, Independent Democrats, Women's Legal Centre, National Forum of Advocates, National Association of Democratic Lawyers and a host of civil society organisations.
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