JSC recommends Tlaletsi as Northern Cape Judge President

6th April 2017 By: News24Wire

JSC recommends Tlaletsi as Northern Cape Judge President

The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has announced that it will recommend Judge Pule Tlaletsi as the next Judge President of the Northern Cape High Court.

Member of the commission Thoko Didiza said Tlaletsi would be recommended to President Jacob Zuma following deliberations by the JSC on Wednesday.

During his interview, Tlaletsi told the JSC that he believed he had all it takes to be the next Judge President.

"I have been nominated and people think I do have the quality. I think I may be equal to the task and serve my people," Tlaletsi said during his interview on Wednesday at the Office of the Chief Justice in Midrand.

Didiza said the commission would make no recommendations to Zuma for the post of deputy judge president of the Northern Cape High Court.

A judge vying for the position of Northern Cape deputy judge president withdrew her candidacy on Wednesday, it emerged during interviews at the JSC.

Judge Cecile Williams wrote in a letter that her competitor for the job, Judge Violet Phatshoane, had been groomed for the position by Northern Cape Judge President Frans Kgomo, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng said.

Williams' withdrawal left Phatshoane as the only candidate. Phatshoane was interviewed for the job, but could not be recommended.

Unhealthy relationship

The commission said it would also not make recommendations for the deputy judge president position in the North West.

Two judges were interviewed for the position.

North West High Court Judge President Monica Leeuw had expressed unhappiness about a colleague being interviewed for the job of her deputy.

Her relationship with Judge Annah Kgoele, who was being interviewed, was not healthy, she said.

Leeuw, who sits on the panel of commissioners, painted an unpleasant picture of her junior, saying the two of them had "ons and offs".

Kgoele, however, appeared calm during her interview and said she was puzzled by Leeuw's claims. Her relationship with her superior was healthy, she said.

The JSC also announced they would recommend Ms Tebogo Djaje to be appointed as a judge in the North West High Court.

The interviews would continue until Friday.