Letter from Matsepes Attorneys on behalf of Justice Louis Harms, former Deputy President of the Supreme Court of Appeal to the Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, October 23 2012:
23 October 2012
PER E-MAIL:
Dear Chief Justice
RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE JSC REGARI)ING APPOINTMENTS TO THE WESTERN CAPE BENCH
I. We act for Mr Justice Louis Harms, the former DP of the SCA. As you know, our client is the proposer of Jeremy Gauntlett SC as a candidate for the Western Cape High Court.
2. We are instructed that eight shortlisted candidates were interviewed last Wednesday (17 October 2012) by the JSC in Cape Town.
3. According to apparently well-informed media reports. five of the candidates are to be recommended by the JSC for the appointment to the Western Cape High Court. They are Cloete Al. Dolamo Al, Mantame AJ. Rogers SC and Schippers SC. Gauntlett SC is not to be recommended. You are obviously in a position to con firm the accuracy of these reports. Our client regards the consequences of not acting on the veracity of these reports to be so deleterious to the proper administration of justice in the country that he has instructed us to address this letter to you at this stage.
4. Our client regards the omission of Gauntlett SC to be irrational and accordingly legally assailable as per the reasoning of the SCA in the recent ligation between the Cape Bar Council and the JSC. The preferring of Dolamo AJ over Gauntlett SC is in particular irrational and inexplicable given what emerged during the interview of Dolamo AJ.
6. The recommendation by the JSC appears on the available information to be prima facie irrational and unconstitutional. It would, with respect. similarly be unconstitutional for you to act on the JSC's recommendation in these circumstances and appoint Dolamo AJ as a judge. Our client would therefore urge you to refer the recommendation of Dolamo AJ back to the JSC. together with a request that the JSC provide its reasons for recommending Dolamo PU and not recommending Gauntlett Sc.
7. Should you not be prepared to refer the recommendation of Dolamo AJ back to the JSC, our client requests that you do not act on the JSC's recommendation and appoint Dolamo AJ as a judge until our client has had a reasonable opportunity of instituting an application to review and set aside the JSC's recommendation of Dolamo AJ.
8. We look forward to hearing from you as a matter of urgency.
Yours faithfully
MATSEPES INC.
RB CLOETE
Reply from Sello Chiloane, Judicial Service Commission, Constitutional Court, to Matsepe's Attorneys, October 25 2012:
Dear Mr Cloete
RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE JSC REGARDING APPOINTMENTS TO THE WESTERN CAPE BENCH
We acknowledge receipt of your letter sent via email dated 23 October 2012.
I have been requested by the Chairperson of the Judicial Service Commission (Commission) to respond as follows:
The Commission will officially announce the names of all the recommended candidates on 26 October 2012 at 09h00. It would therefore be inappropriate for the Commission to deal with the issues raised in your letter prior to the announcement.
It would also be appreciated if all future correspondence could be addressed to the Secretanat of the Commission.
Yours sincerely,
SeIIo Chiloane
Secretarlat Judicial Service Commission
Date: 25/10/2012
24 October 2012
Letter from Matsepes Attorneys to the Judicial Service Commission, October 25 2012:
URGENT
RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE JSC REGARDING APPOINTMENTS TO THE WESTERN CAPE BENCH
We herewith acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 25 October 2012.
We note from it that the chairperson of the Commission is to proceed to announce the names of the recommended candidates notwithstanding the issues raised in our letter to you dated 23 October 2012. We understand that this is without the letter being referred to other members of the Commission.
It is regretted that this should be the case. It had been hoped that the problems which have arisen might first be addressed other than in the public domain, with a view to resolving them, and avoiding public controversy.
Yours faithfully
MATSEPES INC.
RB CLOETE
Source: http://carmelrickard.posterous.com/
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