ANC WELCOMES THE APPOINTMENT OF JUSTICE MOGOENG MOGOENG

The African National Congress (ANC) welcomes the appointment of Judge Mogoeng Mogoeng as the Chief Justice by President Zuma.

Given the new Chief Justice's experience and proven leadership role, we are confident that he will complete the task of transforming the judiciary.  He will be key in ensuring access to justice, proper functioning of our courts, access to judicial processes and sound administration to support effective justice.

This appointment follows a lengthy and rigorous process which began with President Zuma's compliance with the nomination process as set out in Section 174 (3) of the Constitution, public scrutiny by the JSC, political parties and organs of civil society, of Justice Mogoeng's fitness for being at the helm of the Constitutional Court. We were quite happy with the process leading to the JSC announcement, which - once again - reaffirms the deepening of our constitutional democracy.

The public hearing which was also televised live, afforded Justice Mogoeng the opportunity to respond to 21 comments from the JSC and to broadly deal with a barrage of public and media criticism, ranging from gender sensitivity, judicial ethical values and perceived lack of experience - among others. We are satisfied with the manner in which Justice Mogoeng displayed depth and legal knowledge - particularly when dealing with tough questions during the JSC hearing. We think this has fully exposed society to the approach and thinking of our next chief justice.

The President's appointment of Justice Mogoeng will now fill the void left by retired Chief Justice Ngcobo, creating certainty and stability in the Constitutional Court.

We wish to reiterate our full confidence in Justice Mogoeng, who has several years experience in leadership capacities in the legal profession, having served the Constitutional Court since 2009. Having previously served as judge of the North West High Court in June 1997, Judge of the Labour Appeal Court in April 2000 and in October 2002 and later Judge President of the North West High Court, we think Justice Mogoeng has all the necessary experience and credentials for the job.

Statement issued by Jackson Mthembu, ANC national spokesperson, September 8 2011

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