Judge’s ‘bad handwriting circular’ a hoax

Cape, in which Judge Hlope was purported as reprimanding his judges for their bad handwriting.

The circular, at first, had some of the legal fraternity as far as in various of the Pretoria chambers gasping in disbelief. Many said they hoped it was a hoax while it left others in stitches.

A few hours after it was seemingly circulated far and wide and had tongues wagging on social media, the Office of the Chief Justice issued a media statement saying that the circular, which was not signed by Judge Hlope, was, in fact, fake news.

The circular, purported to have been issued by Judge Hlope, stated that it had come to his attention that “certain judges’ handwriting is indecipherable”.

The circular read: “I received a note from one recently that was so poorly written that I thought at first that it was a criticism of my previous directive!

“Accordingly, I shall be circulating a list of the names of those judges shortly, and they will be required to submit to me each Friday a sample of their handwriting.”

The circular continued that those whose handwriting did not show a marked improvement would have to come in on Saturday and “write lines”.

Given that Judge Hlope has been in the news for years and the Judicial Service Commission decided to impeach him, the fake circular had many in legal circles scratching their heads.

But in confirming it to be fake news, the Office of the Chief Justice said the intention of the author of this fraudulent directive remained unclear.

In referring to the signature under Judge Hlope’s name, the office reminded the public that the misrepresentation of a signature was a serious offence.

The media and the public were advised to verify directives and communications that purported to be that of a judge on social media before attributing statements made on any platform to a judge.