A prohibition on judges belonging to political parties was among the sections of the proposed Judicial Code of Conduct, which the National Association for Democratic Lawyers flagged as an important issue in its submission on the code on Tuesday.

"Within the proposed code there is a section that would prohibit a judge from becoming member of a political party. Naturally there are concerns regarding independence of the judiciary and the appearance of independence of the judiciary but we feel that at a minimum they have the same rights as any others, according to the Constitution," said Nokukhanya Jele, publicity secretary for Nadel.

Their statement read that while it is undesirable for judges to take membership of political parties, there is a need to protect their political rights and their right to freedom of expression, belief, association and assembly.

"With reference to Article 4.6 of the Bangalore Principles of Judicial Conduct, 2002 ("the Bangalore Principles"), it was submitted Judges' exercising their right to vote is sufficient to protect their relevant political rights and, in light of the vote being secret, will not impede on the dignity, impartiality and independence of the Judiciary."

The second issue that Nadel noted was the question of remuneration for non-judicial work on retirement.

In terms of the code, judges are severely restricted in what types of extra work they can do, even when no longer acting.

They can be a university rector, or be a trustee for a charity. For example, business or financial dealings with members of the legal professions are to be avoided.

They cannot solicit or accept gifts, they have to careful who they mingle with socially and cannot be involved with anything that may affect the independence, status or impartiality of the judge or the judge's office.

Judges cannot act as attorneys or legal advisers but are allowed to give "informal" legal advice to friends and family without compensation.

Judges cannot work on cases where they might have a vested interest.

Judges can take part in "extra-judicial" activities unless it does not interfere with the judge's independence or affect the judge's ability to pay enough attention to her work.

A judge who has been in private practice cannot sit on a case in which he or his previous firm was involved.

Once appointed a judge, a judge is expected to sever all professional links and quickly get payments owed, in.

Judges can have private consultations with each other as sounding boards, but the content of these discussions remain confidential and these meetings cannot be used to influence a case.

In 2009 Cape Judge President John Hlophe had to explain to defend himself against a complaint to the Judicial Service Commission by the Constitutional Court judges that he had allegedly broached the subject of the Jacob Zuma judgment with one of the judges deliberating on one of the president's applications there, before he was made president.

A judge can participate in public debate on legal subjects, the judiciary or the administration of justice, but not in a way that undermines the judiciary.

Nadel welcomed the proposed code as a means of ensuring there were mechanisms to address problems, work, such as unreasonable delays in judgments and instances of bias and prejudice.