Handwriting 'reprimand' by judge John Hlophe is fake, says chief justice

The judge president of the Western Cape division, John Hlophe, has not issued any handwriting reprimand to judges.

This is according to the office of the chief justice, which has labelled the “directive” as fake.

On Tuesday, a purported directive started making the rounds on social media, expressing Hlophe's supposed unhappiness with the standard of handwriting of judges, criticising some as indecipherable.

The “directive” went on to say that judges whose handwriting did not improve should submit samples on Fridays and even come to work on Saturdays to write out lines.

“The spurious directive states that it is being issued as an addendum to the official directives issued by the judge president on September 6, and appears to introduce measures to improve the legibility of handwritten court notes,” the office of the chief justice said in a statement.

The office said the intention of the authors of the fraudulent directive remains unclear but reminded the public that the use of another’s signature is a serious offence, as the false directive had Hlophe's signature. 

It encouraged the public and media to contact it to verify the authenticity of any directive, article, communication or social media post that purports to be that of a judge before attributing statements made on any platform to a judge.

Official communication, including directives issued by the judiciary, can be found here.

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