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The Vice President of the Western Cape Judge, Patricia Goliath. (Photo: judgesmatter.co.za) / Western Cape Chief Justice John Hlophe. (Photo: Gallo Images / Foto24 / Mary-Ann Palmer)
Western Cape Chief Justice John Hlophe has called for a judicial commission of inquiry into the circumstances that led to an investigation and a subsequent report on his role in an alleged plot to kill his deputy, Patricia Goliath.
A statement issued Friday by Judge Hlophe’s attorney, Barnabas Xulu, pledged to “fully participate in this judicial commission of inquiry to help get to the bottom of this corrupt attack on him and ultimately judicial independence.” .
Xulu said the whistleblower, currently in prison, was “a suspected snitch” who had a motive to lie. He added that the investigators initially sent by the Judicial Services Committee had suggested that “he [the whistleblower] it was being used by Goliath ”.
Xulu added that officials from the Department of Correctional Services had confirmed to him that the informant was “a troublemaker and that DCS has a lot of trouble with him.”
The informant, Xulu added, was in custody for “intimidation, thwarting the purposes of justice and extortion.”
“To be very clear, the presiding judge (Hlophe) has never been involved in actions that could remotely justify the defamatory and unfortunate insinuations in the JICS report,” Xulu said.
Xulu said that two JSC officials were initially dispatched to investigate the alleged plot and that “they did not believe the informant and warned ‘X’ not to speak to him again.”
Read the full answer from Hlophe’s attorney here (Note: issue date is September 11, not September 6):
Judge Hlophe’s Response
Speaking to journalist Stephen Grootes at News night On September 10, 2020, Judge Edwin Cameron, Correctional Services Inspection Judge, confirmed that Patricia Goliath had approached his office after receiving a tip about the alleged murder plot.
“We conducted an investigation. I sent two senior members of my executive, and I trust their integrity, common sense and good judgment, ”said Cameron.
The team had concluded that “it appeared that the man they interviewed was telling the truth about what he was told and what he heard.”
The Inspectorate had “done its job,” he said, and the report had been given to “a very limited number of people.”
“All the major players have an interest in it. Judge Hlophe has an interest in it, Judge Goliath has an interest in it, and the matter must go further now. “
Xulu’s statement reveals that two investigations were carried out; one by JSC and one by JICS.
He continued that his client “has never met or spoken with any of the people referred to in the report, either in person or through any representative anywhere.”
If the compilers of the JISC report had given Hlophe the opportunity to comment on these allegations, Xulu said, “such a reasonable step would have prevented the publication and leakage of a report whose defamatory content is outlandish and far-reaching.”
“The fact that JICS did not give Chief Justice Hlophe the opportunity to get involved with these allegations prior to publication, combined with the leaking of the report, gives no impression other than that of a malicious plot to fabricate malicious lies about him. “.
Until a media investigation was sent to his office from the Daily maverick, “Presiding Judge Hlophe was unaware that such despicable, egregious and false allegations had been made in a JICS report, and they were leaked to a journalist whose interest in his activities appears to be aimed at fabricating outrage by perpetrating malicious lies about him.”
Supposed Hlophe / Goliath Assassination Plan: What We Know So Far and What Should Happen Now
In the statement, Xulu said that the Chief Justice issued, on July 3, 2020, “a ruling referring Goliath DJP’s complaint against the Chief Justice to the Court of Judicial Conduct.”
“We took note of an appeal against that ruling on August 3, 2020. In her ruling, Mogoeng CJ made reference to violence or abuse against women. However, this was not contained in the documents before him. “
Xulu accused Mogoeng of being “influenced by these reports of false accusations of an assassination plot by Goliath DJP.”
“It is important to reflect on the brief context in which these accusations have been made to appreciate the anxious position of the presiding judge,” Xulu added.
He said that on August 31, 2020, Hlophe had filed a complaint of “serious judicial misconduct” against Chief Justice Mogoeng “in relation to the biased manner in which he handled Goliath DJP’s complaint against him, and the fact that the president of the Supreme Court had resolved a complaint in which he potentially witnessed the accusations. ”
That complaint had been filed “through the usual JSC procedures.”
“The receipt by the Chief Justice of the additional report involving allegations that Chief Justice Hlophe conspired to kill Goliath DJP followed by his decision to tighten his security, and followed by an adverse ruling, requires a proper investigation into how these complaints have been adjudicated. “
“We have reflected with Chief Justice Hlophe on the implications of these malicious reports on him and we can only emphasize the seriousness of the allegations, not only for him as the person falsely implicated in the reports, but for judicial independence and the integrity of the power. judicial. office.”
Given the seriousness of the allegations, Xulu said, Hlophe called for a “swift and transparent public investigation of the issues by a judicial commission of inquiry.”
“The presiding judge is committed to fully participating in this judicial commission of inquiry to help get to the bottom of this corrupt attack on him and ultimately on judicial independence.”
Xulu said the JICS report was “deeply flawed and malicious, and lacked authenticity and professionalism.
“The report, to the extent that it hints that there is some credibility in the false reports about him, is highly defamatory, dangerous and designed solely to tarnish his reputation.”
He said Hlophe “had never been involved in any action that could even remotely justify the defamatory and unfortunate innuendo in the JICS report.”
Nor had he “met or spoken with any of the persons mentioned in the report, either in person or through any representative anywhere.”
The allegations that Hlophe had been “involved in criminal activity, including hiring assassins to kill the deputy presiding judge, are false.”
Xulu said the complainant’s motive was that he wanted to be granted bail so he “could attend his trial while he was at home.”
He said investigators had “hinted” that the complainant “was making up the story and being used by Judge Goliath.”
The informant, Xulu said, had admitted “that he was lying about the allegations because he wanted money.”
The JICS report, Xulu said, mentioned that a report had been made to the Chiloane Seal of the Judicial Services Commission, which is chaired by Chief Justice Mogoeng.
Following this report, two officials, “whose status is unknown to Chief Justice Hlophe, were sent to investigate the alleged plot.”
“It is said that these officials did not believe the alleged informant and warned said ‘X’ not to speak to him again.”
“While the Office of the Chief Justice responded to a media investigation in which it made clear that there was no basis for these allegations that Chief Justice Hlophe was involved in an alleged plot to assassinate Deputy Chief Justice , Chief Justice Hlophe will be seeking information on 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 the Deputy Chief Justice Goliath vs. Chief Justice Hlophe “.
Xulu said a report dated September 9, 2020 had been published in the Witness and by News 24, entitled: “Judge Goliath ‘Assassination Plan’: ‘Mastermind’ of High-Profile KZN Assassination Designated as ‘Hitman'”.
The stories had quoted a “senior official” from the prison who had denied the claims.
Since the allegations implied Hlophe’s suitability for the position, “the presiding judge urges the Judicial Services Commission to investigate these allegations with a view to determining issues relevant to its jurisdiction.”
“The presiding judge will cooperate fully with all investigations, but calls for such investigations to be public and transparent, rather than private,” Xulu said.
This is a developing story. DM
