Appoint judges on merit

THE Judicial Service Commission’s (JSC) interviews nowadays are sadly not on distinct and proven legal merit per se, but on whether these judicial candidates fit the bill of race and are politically acceptable and towing the political correctness line.

Even those judges and the legal professionals who sit in these JSC interviews seem to get their cue from the politically obsessed JSC panelists.

Politics is dominant in JSC judicial appointments and no one is standing up to the overtly political and race biased interviews.

Sadly no one has come back to inform the rest of South Africa of any qualitative informed research that the current JSC format and deliberations are indeed delivering on the substance of judicial transformation, as opposed to window dressing.

Are we getting quality judges upholding the rule of law, or simply judges beholden to politicians?

Judicial transformation remains an elusive myth if it is quantitatively assessed in terms of race and gender numbers only. Race and gender alone are not a guarantee of much-needed judicial courage, wisdom and incisive forensic skills.

Judicial transformation should not be bereft of appropriate deep judicial acumen and skills. It also should not be a mere lip service and narrow self-serving political narrative for those judicial candidates with connections in corridors of power.

Where is the assessment process, and how is it conducted, to ensure that this judicial transformation agenda does not leave the unsuspecting public with ill-suited judges for life?

The harm of wrong judicial appointments taints and deligitimises the entire judiciary as an institution.

More than anything South Africa needs patriotic and fearless judges with deep knowledge, experience and skills to navigate the political onslaught on the rule of law and the judiciary as an institution from those who are politically connected and have deep pockets to litigate.

South Africa has too many politicians dabbling in all spheres of professions that these politicians have no technical competence nor experience in. They are not fit to interfere with such institutional staffing and operations.