THERE IS nothing wrong with appointing a serving judge to chair a judicial commission of inquiry.
But it is wrong for a minister, a politician, to “go straight to a court and pick out a particular judge to come and preside over a particular commission,” said retired Gauteng judge president Bernard Ngoepe on Wednesday.
The first duty of judges is to their judicial office, to be in court, he said. “Judges are not civil servants.”
Ngoepe was speaking at the launch of his book, Rich Pickings out of the Past, at law firm ENSafrica in Sandton.
The event was opened by chief justice Raymond Zondo and attended by former chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke and a number of senior judges and lawyers. EFF leader Julius Malema was also in attendance virtually.
Ngoepe said if a minister wanted to appoint a judge to head a commission, the appropriate thing for the minister to do was approach a judge president to ask for recommendations. Because “judges talk in the tea room,” he said. And he said they can ask: “What is it about this colleague … that makes them commendable to this politician for this commission?”
It can damage the credibility of the judiciary, said Ngoepe.
Ngoepe’s book — not an autobiography, but an autoethnography, he said — is a thoughtful collection of anecdotes and reflections from his life. It is a call to examine some of the fundamental problems of South African society, he told journalists before the launch.
At the start of the event, moderator Iman Rappetti made clear that, while questions were welcome, they had to be limited to the subject at hand — to avoid “an extended press conference”. From that point, the event became a warm and relaxed celebration of Ngoepe’s book and life.
Zondo praised Ngoepe for his contribution to the leadership of the judiciary at a time when there were very few black judges, recalling his tense Judicial Service Commission interview for Gauteng judge president. Ngoepe’s nomination to lead SA’s busiest court had been bitterly and fiercely opposed at the JSC.
Zondo recalled how one commissioner had insisted on asking Ngoepe why he couldn’t wait to be judicial leader. To which he replied — Zondo said — “I’ve been waiting for 300 years”.
Later Ngoepe said that he had not in fact wanted to be judge president of Gauteng and had wanted to join Ismail Mahomed at the Supreme Court of Appeal. He had to be persuaded to make himself available because of the need to transform that bench. When he started he was the only African judge. When he left the court, it was over 50% black, he said.
Image (Retired Gauteng Judge President Bernard Ngoepe launched his book ‘Rich Pickings out of the Past’ on Wednesday evening in Sandton).
