Mogoeng Mogoeng - The African Mirror

May

2021

First female chief justice for South Africa

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER SOUTH Africa has its first female chief justice, albeit on a temporary basis. And the career of the man she is standing for may be coming to an ignoble end. Constitutional Court Judge Sisi Khampepe has been named as the acting-Chief Justice after Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng went on a long leave. The reasons for Mogoeng’s long leave and the period have not been made public, raising suspicion that this may be the end of his career. His term of office ends in October. Khampepe was appointed to the highest judicial office in SA because the automatic…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

South Africa is set to appoint a new chief justice. The stakes have never been so high

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

BY October, South Africa’s Chief Justice, Mogoeng Mogoeng, will have finished his 12-year term at the helm of the Constitutional Court. How will his successor be selected, and what qualities are needed by the holder of this high office? HUGH CORDER, Professor of Public Law, University of Cape Town To answer these questions we need to understand the context. This is because the country’s judiciary has been increasingly drawn into party political wrangling and contestation. Any form of constitutional democracy which allows judicial review of the exercise of public power thrusts the courts into the political limelight. Inevitably, acts and…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Zuma’s middle finger to Chief Justice, highest court

NEWS

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER A defiant Jacob Zuma, the former president of South Africa, has shown the proverbial middle finger to the country’s Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng and rejected, as a sham and a political gimmick, a directive that he must suggest a suitable punishment in the case he is found guilty of contempt of the Constitutional Court. Mogoeng issued the directive to Zuma who faces charges of failing to appear before the Zondo judicial commission into state capture and for defying the Constitutional Court.The chief justice directed Zuma to file an affidavit of no longer than 15 pages. Zuma responded…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

I did not try to influence the Chief Justice – Gordhan

NEWS

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER SOUTH African Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has denied that he sought to influence the appointment of a judge in a discussion, in 2016, with Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng. Gordhan wrote to the Judicial Services Commission (JSC), issued public denial and clarifcation after Mogoeng disclosed during an interview in which Judge Dhaya Pillay was being interviewed for a post on the Constitutional Court, that Gordhan had spoken to him about Judge Pillay. Mogoeng said;; Gordhan admitted talking to Mogoeng about Pilay but said he did so in passing. He denied attempting to influence the appointment of Dhaya,…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Choose your punishment, Zuma told

NEWS

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER SOUTH Africa’s Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng has provided former South African president Jacob Zuma an opportunity to influence the sanction the Constitutional Court should impose on him, should he be found guilty of contempt of court. The Constitutional Court, the highest court in SA, is due to hand down its verdict in a case in which it has been asked by the chair of the judicial commission into state capture to find Zuma guilty of contempt and sent him to jail for two years. Zuma has until April 14 to file the affidavit. Deputy Chief Justice Raymond…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

South Africa’s chief justice on the ropes

NEWS

AFRICA MIRROR REPORTER SOUTH Africa’s chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng is in the middle of battle to protect his credibility. Mogoeng yesterday announced that he has lodged an appeal against a historic ruling, by the Judicial Conduct Committee (JCC), which ordered him to apologise for his pro-Israel comment made during an event held in June last year. In an unprecedented move, the JCC, chaired by retired Deputy Judge President Phineas Mojapelo, ordered Mogoeng to retract his comments and make a public apology. The JCC provided a draft of the apology and ordered Mogoeng to read and to publicly release it. The…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

South Africa’s chief justice unrepentant for linking vaccines to Satanism

NEWS

SOUTH African Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng on Friday dismissed concerns that he might be endangering people's health by linking coronavirus vaccines to a "Satanic agenda". It was the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic that a senior judge had aired such preoccupations. South Africa has registered more than 22,700 deaths from COVID-19, by far the highest number on the continent. Worries quickly surfaced, in a country where new medical interventions are often controversial, that people might avoid vaccination as a result of the comments. After South Africa began hosting the continent's first coronavirus vaccine trial, anti-vaccine activists protested…