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Until an investigation and report, commissioned by the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services, into an alleged plot to assassinate Western Cape Vice President Patricia Goliath appeared in the media on September 4, 2020, little or nothing was had done about it.
What do we know and what should happen now?
Let’s start with the response of Vice President Judge John Hlophe through his lawyer Barnabas Xulu on September 11, 2020 that a judicial commission of inquiry was established to get to the bottom of a matter that now threatens the independence and authority of the judiciary. .
Judge Hlophe’s Response
If such a commission is created, it is essential that the DPCI and the Hawks are part of it. This is because a DPCI member in Cape Town has been implicated in the JICS report for having made the request on behalf of Hlophe.
This is a serious accusation, involving law enforcement agencies, which have enormous powers of access and investigation.
It would be in the interests of justice as well if Presiding Judge Hlophe should stand down while the matter is investigated in public hearings, should they occur.
What we also know is that little or nothing was done after the JICS report was sent, as confirmed by Inspection Judge Edwin Cameron, to a “very limited number of people” with the comment that the allegations warranted further investigation. .
Daily maverick it has been fully informed that neither SAPS nor DPCI had registered any investigation into the matter two months after the JICS report was issued.
We know that Goliath received a tip about an alleged plot to assassinate her after a whistleblower at a Pietermaritzburg facility claimed that in May 2020 he had overheard a call from an alleged hitman to another cellmate.
The cellmate was identified in the JICS report as the former policeman, Sibonelo Myeza, arrested in 2018 in connection with the murder of ANCYL secretary general and later Umzimkhulu adviser Sindiso Magaqa in 2017.
The mastermind accused behind the KZN coup against Sindiso Magaqa implicated in an alleged plot to assassinate Judge Goliath
Hlophe via Xulu has called the JICS report “deeply flawed and malicious, and lacking in authenticity and professionalism.”
Judge Cameron, on the other hand, has stated that he sent “two high-ranking officials of my executive and I trust their integrity, good sense and good judgment as well.”
The complainant contacted the Judicial Services Commission speaking with a receptionist and later with the spokesperson, Seal Chiloane.
Goliath has confirmed that she was contacted by members of the Grahamstown Bar, after the whistleblower called their offices. That call, Goliath said, had been relayed to a Grahamstown Superior Court judge.
Goliath had contacted the JSC, who had immediately provided additional security.
According to Xulu, who named the whistleblower in his public statement, thus potentially endangering his life, the JSC had sent its own officials to the prison.
These officials had returned, Xulu said, with the opinion that they did not believe the whistleblower and that their claims should not be entertained further. a statement that Daily maverick could not confirm independently. In fact, the Office of the Chief Justice has yet to respond to any of the Daily Mavericks inquiries regarding the JICS report or any other report.
The JSC and the Office of the Chief Justice have been silent throughout the matter and have not responded to questions sent by the Daily maverick.
The Ministry of Justice only issued a statement after Daily maverick had contacted the Minister’s office seeking comment on the JICS report and its contents. Ministry spokesman Chrispin Phiri later said the report had been sent to law enforcement agencies.
The JSC has neither acknowledged nor denied that it sent two of its own investigators to the prison or what its findings were.
Hlophe finally responds to murder plot accusations: calls for judicial investigation, accuses Mogoeng of bias, calls whistleblower ‘a snitch’
The ongoing instability in the Western Cape Division, where high-profile cases involving Xulu himself have been or should be heard, warrants a swift resolution of what is now clearly an untenable situation.
In fact, this is a crisis.
Goliath filed a complaint with the JSC in January 2020 alleging gross misconduct on Hlophe’s behalf. Ten judges from the division supported an indictment regarding an alleged assault by Hlophe of a fellow judge, Mushtak Parker.
Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng intervened in that matter saying that Hlophe had a case to answer in the assault matter. The Chief Justice dismissed a counterclaim by Hlophe against Goliath.
Hlophe, in her statement, has tried to suggest that the allegations of an alleged assassination plot have been fabricated by CJ Mogoeng and Goliath.
Xulu has written:
“While the Office of the Chief Justice responded to a media investigation in which it made clear that these allegations that Chief Justice Hlophe was involved in an alleged plot to assassinate the Vice President of the Justice were unfounded, the Judge President Hlophe will seek information as to when and how this information came to the attention of the Chief Justice, and whether these events occurred while Chief Justice Mogoeng was in the process of adjudicating a complaint filed by Deputy Chief Justice Goliath against Chief Justice Hlophe “.
The Office of the Chief Justice has yet to respond to any of Daily maverick’s inquiries regarding the JICS report or any other report. We have not received any communication that “these accusations are unfounded”. DM
