[ad_1]
Judge Mushtak Parker. Credit: A screenshot of the JSC confirmation hearing, courtesy of Judges Matter
The Judicial Service Commission says it will “notify the president that it would be desirable for the president to suspend Judge Parker in terms of section 177 (3) of the Constitution.”
The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has advised President Cyril Ramaphosa to suspend Western Cape Judge Mushtak Parker pending the findings of a Court of Judicial Conduct for serious misconduct.
Parker has been accused by 10 colleagues in the division of providing conflicting accounts of an alleged assault on him by his boss, Western Cape Chief Justice John Hlophe, in 2019. This interpretation of two different versions may have made Parker guilty of “gross misconduct”.
The Western Cape Bar Council had also complained to the JSC that Parker had not disclosed when interviewed for The Bench that a law firm he was connected to had a deficit of R8 million in its trust account.
This matter, the JSC said, was “extremely serious” and if proven “would constitute a serious misconduct in its [Parker’s] part”.
JSC spokesperson CP Fourie made the announcement in a statement released to the media on Wednesday, October 14.
In May, the Judicial Conduct Committee (CCM) was tasked with reviewing complaints and submissions, and made recommendations on October 9.
“The JSC, in terms of section 19 (4) of the JSC Act, will inform the President that it has requested the Chief Justice to appoint a Court. In addition, the JSC will inform the president that it would be desirable for the president to suspend Judge Parker in terms of section 177 (3) of the Constitution pending the completion of the complaints, ”the statement read.
The Constitution allows for the suspension of a judge by the president with the advice of the JSC when that judge is the subject of impeachment proceedings.
The two complaints, filed by the 10 judges and the Cape Bar Council, were referred to the committee by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng in May.
the 10 complainants in the first case judges were D Davis, S Desai, YS Meer, LJ Bozalek, AG Binns-Ward, ET Steyn, PAL Gamble, RCA Henney, OL Rogers, and ML Sher.
In announcing the decision in June to investigate the complaints, Vice President of the Supreme Court Raymond Zondo, Acting President of the JCC, said that the Chief Justice had “referred these complaints to this Committee because he considered that, if established, the two complaints probably to lead the JSC to the conclusion that there was a serious fault on the part of the defendant ”.
The main affidavit, Judge Dennis Davis, was deposed on March 23, while other judges had deposed to affidavits confirming the content of Davis’s affidavit.
In his capacity as Chairman of the Cape Bar Council, Attorney Andrew Breitenbach submitted an affidavit in support of the second complaint regarding the trust fund deficit and Parker’s failure to make this known to the JSC.
On October 9, the commission considered the committee’s recommendations and the submissions made by the complainants and concluded that “with article 19 (1) (a) of the JSC Act, Judge Parker could have acted dishonestly by giving two contradictory versions and mutually exclusive about an incident that occurred in his office between him and Chief Justice Hlophe on February 25, 2019. ”
Parker’s suspension will be conditional on the completion of reserved and partially heard trials and will last until the complaints are finalized. DM
