JSC's uphill battle to short-list ConCourt post

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Business Day reports that, despite extending the nomination date by two weeks, the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) was still unable to find enough short-list candidates for a vacancy on the Constitutional Court, forcing it to re-advertise the post.

It is the first time that, in spite of an extension, there was still "an insufficient number of appropriate nominations". It is understood that only four nominations were received by the JSC and that only two of these were likely to make it on to a short list for interviews.

In terms of the constitution, where there is one vacancy, the JSC would have to give the president a list of four names, from which he would choose one. It appears, however, that judges who had applied for the Constitutional Court in 2009 - Labour Court Judge President Dunstan Mlambo and North Gauteng High Court Judge Malesela Legodi - have now made themselves available for judge president of SA's busiest courts, the North and South Gauteng high courts. Also nominated for this post is South Gauteng High Court Deputy Judge President Phineas Mojapelo, all three are highly respected judges.

Only five candidates were short-listed for the North and South Gauteng high courts, despite six vacancies. Recently, the JSC has struggled to fill vacancies in the Gauteng courts. In October a vacancy was left open and in April only four out of six places were filled.

Read the full article on www.businessday.co.za.