By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Photo Credit: Tracy Lee Stark.
The suspended Western Cape judge president John Hlophe has failed in his last minute bid to halt a parliamentary vote on his impeachment.
Hlophe’s application to interdict the impeachment vote was heard on Tuesday in the Western Cape High Court.
Gauteng High Court Judge Sulet Potterill, who heard the application, struck the urgent application for an interdict off the roll in a ruling on Wednesday.
Hlophe filed an urgent interdict application in the Western Cape High Court to halt the parliamentary proceedings.
He was challenging the lack of parliamentary guidelines or rules for the impeachment of a judge in the Constitutional Court and wanted the National Assembly vote halted until the apex court has heard the matter.
Hlophe and former Gauteng High Court judge, Nkola Motata, are both facing permanent removal from the bench next week over separate incidents of gross misconduct over a decade ago.
The Judicial Service Commission found Hlophe guilty of gross misconduct in 2021 for allegedly attempting to influence Constitutional Court judges in 2008 in a case involving former president, Jacob Zuma, while Motata is facing impeachment for a drunk driving case in 2007.
Parliament said Hlophe is acting pre-emptively – and as if it’s a foregone conclusion the National Assembly will on Wednesday reach the majority threshold required to remove him.
With Hlophe’s Supreme Court of Appeal case having lapsed – Parliament said there’s no impediment to it proceeding with the impeachment.
At least 264 members will have to vote in favour of his removal for the impeachment to succeed.
In December 2022, President Cyril Ramaphosa suspended Hlophe after a recommendation by the JSC that this be done while he faced an impeachment inquiry.
Announcing the suspension, Ramaphosa said: “The JCT established that Hlophe’s behaviour seriously threatened and interfered with the independence, impartiality, dignity and effectiveness of the Constitutional Court and undermined public confidence in the judicial system.”
The JSC has now referred the matter to Parliament for the National Assembly to institute impeachment proceedings against Hlophe.