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By Loyiso Sidimba 
6h ago
Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng harshly criticized the decision of the vice president of retired Gauteng judge Phineas Mojapelo to force him to apologize for his pro-Israel remarks.
Judge Mogoeng is appealing Mojapelo’s decision and finds that his comments in a webinar violated the Code of Judicial Conduct.
He described Judge Mojapelo’s reasoning as flawed and disturbingly superficial.
In his 39-page appeal to the Judicial Conduct Committee, Judge Mogoeng asserts that Mojapelo deviated materially by concluding that the complaints from Africa Palestine, Women Cultural Group, and the SA Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Coalition they did not refer to constitutional rights to freedom of religion, belief, thought and opinion, and freedom of expression.
“The Honorable Member adopted an approach to the interpretation of a legal instrument that is in disagreement with the binding principles of interpretation established in the decisions of the Constitutional Court in Cool Ideas, Chisuse and other cases,” read the grounds of appeal of Judge Mogoeng .
He said that Judge Mojapelo did not interpret the code in a way that promotes the spirit, purpose and objects of the right to freedom of expression and freedom of religion, belief, thought and opinion and recognizes the supremacy of the Constitution over the code. .
According to Judge Mogoeng, Judge Mojapelo’s conclusion that his participation in the Jerusalem Post webinar in June last year was an extrajudicial activity is misdirected and wrong when he (Judge Mojapelo) wrote an opinion piece on the powers of former President Jacob Zuma to nominate and appoint the Chief Justice in 2011.
He said other high-ranking justices, such as retired Supreme Court Vice President Dikgang Moseneke, former Constitutional Court Justice Edwin Cameron and another retired judge Dennis Davis, have previously made public statements on contentious political issues such as land equity and the Palestine-Israel situation.
Judge Mogoeng wants all the guilty findings made by Judge Mojapelo and the corrective measures that he must publicly excuse to be overturned.
Political Bureau
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