A JSC Tribunal has found Judge President John Hlophe guilty of gross misconduct for trying to sway two Constitutional Court judges to rule in favour of ANC president Jacob Zuma in 2008.
That's because the Judicial Service Commission first needs to consider the unanimous decision given by retired Judge Joop Labuschagne, Supreme Court of Appeal judge Tati Makgoka and attorney Nishani Pather, and decide whether the grounds for Hlophe's possible impeachment have been met. Should the JSC support that finding, Hlophe could become the first judge in democratic South African history to be impeached.
Importantly, the documents that had been seized by the Scorpions included two boxes of financial statements taken from the office of Zuma's then attorney Michael Hulley - leading the defence to contend that the raids had breached legal privilege. Hlophe has also admitted that he told Jafta in a March 2008 meeting that the issue of privilege needed to be decided"properly" and concluded his conversation with him by saying"" meaning"you are our last hope" - a remark that he insisted was totally innocent.
The tribunal later described this interaction as Hlophe"bragging about his political connections, followed by a subtle threat: people were going to lose their jobs once Mr Zuma ascends to the Presidency of the country". "The fact that Judge President Hlophe told Justice Nkabinde that 'there is no case against Mr Zuma,' after saying that Mr Zuma was likely to become President of the country, is revealing," the tribunal stated. It added that his remark belied Hlophe’s claim that he had only discussed legal principles with Jafta and Nkabinde, not the facts of the Zuma case.
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