EDITORIAL | More clarity needed on delays in interviewing judicial candidates

One of the Judicial Services Commission’s most important functions is to interview candidates forjudicialposts and to make recommendations on who they think should be appointed to the bench. Because the body’s commissioners act in other professional capacities, theJSCmeets for one week just twice a year — once during October and once during April — to interview shortlisted candidates. The meetings usually take place in Sandton in Gauteng.

It requires an enormous amount of money, organisation and time to get all shortlisted candidates, commissioners and the various entourages to Sandton to do the interviews which are, for purposes of transparency, held in public and broadcast across several online platforms. The Eastern Cape division has had three vacancies for a long time. The JSC in October last year inexplicably cancelled interviews for the three Eastern Cape division vacancies.

There was no clarity on why. It issued a cryptic statement saying only that it was “due to issues relating to the shortlisting of candidates”. It said the vacancies would be re-advertised for April this year.

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What followed was speculation, rumour and uncertainty, none of which is healthy. Now, in April, 10 people were shortlisted to be interviewed for the three posts. After interviewing three of 10 candidates on Wednesday, chief justice Mandisa Maya asked that the commissioners remain for a short meeting before lunch to discuss an “urgent issue” which had come up.

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