Advocate Jeremy Gauntlett SC, one of South Africa's foremost lawyers, has once again been blocked from appointment to the Constitutional Court. This is the fifth time Gauntlett has been rejected for judicial appointment.

According to reports Gauntlett was hammered by Judicial Service Commission members in his interview on Friday for earlier criticisms he had made of their conduct. BDLive reports that: "After a relatively short deliberation session, JSC spokesman Dumisa Ntsebeza SC announced to the media that the four names from which President Jacob Zuma must choose the next Constitiutional Court judge are Judge Selby Baqwa, Judge Ronnie Bosielo, Mbuyiseli Madlanga SC and Judge Brian Spilg."

The non-appointment of Gauntlett follows a long-running pattern of "negative selection" of judges to South Africa's top court whereby the more qualified a candidate is for the highest judicial office the less likely they are to be nominated or appointed.

This practice has meant that South Africa's best judges and lawyers are highly reluctant to apply for positions on the Constitutional Court and it has left the Court suffering from a crippling shortage of top legal expertise.

This "crisis of competence" is a particular concern given that the Constitutional Court is soon to become South Africa's "apex" court and will be entitled to hear cases formerly solely in the domain of the Supreme Court of Appeal. 

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