Parliament ‘obligated’ to remove Malema from JSC if not fit and proper, court told

The Helen Suzman Foundation is suing the National Assembly Speaker to force a review of Julius Malema’s fitness for the Judicial Service Commission.

EFF leader Julius Malema is in litigation to keep his Judicial Service Commission post. The court has set November 11 to hear the case.

The foundation wants Parliament to consider whether Malema, who has verbally attacked judges for years after losses in court, is ‘fit and proper’ to serve on the commission.

The words “fit and proper” do not reflect in the constitution section that deals with the JSC, but the foundation takes it from a judgment of the high court in the case which challenged MK Party MP John Hlophe’s appointment to the JSC after he was impeached as a judge. The full bench in that case overturned Hlophe’s designation to the JSC, having found designating a person who is not fit and proper to serve on the JSC undermines the constitutional imperative set out in section 165(4) of the constitution and compromises the integrity and credibility of the JSC.

Malema, in his affidavit, argues the facts in his case are materially different from the Hlophe matter.