INSLA
It was a morning of direct questions and straight answers at the Judicial Service Commission in Cape Town. Judge Isaac Madondo, has applied for the position of deputy judge president for KwaZulu-Natal.
KwaZulu-Natal – KwaZulu-Natal Judge Isaac Madondo was grilled on everything – from his views on who should lead the judiciary to his not attending a morning tea meeting – in his bid for the position of deputy judge president of KZN.
Asking most of the tough questions at the Judicial Service Commission interview in Cape Town was Judge President Chiman Patel.
Judge Patel was appointed last year as judge president, a position for which Judge Madondo had also been shortlisted and interviewed.
Judge Patel questioned Judge Madondo on why he rarely attended the 9am tea meeting, during which judges often exchanged views and advice.
Judge Madondo responded that he did not consider it to be obligatory. If he did not go to the tea room, it was because he was “busy with something” else.
“At times, even though I don’t take tea, I do go there to interact with my colleagues when the need arises,” he said.
Judge Patel also pressed Judge Madondo on the fact that he was the only judge in the division who had a dedicated driver, a service he had used for two years.
Judge Madondo said he had been assigned a dedicated driver following a request for one because he had “dizzy spells”, particularly when driving long distances.
While he acknowledged that he had taken steps to improve his health, he understood that, if he needed a driver, there was one available.
Judge Patel also quizzed Judge Madondo on why, in June, he had not been in court for 11 of the 20 court days, which he said he considered to be “a very long period”.
Also, contrary to the rules in the division, Judge Madondo had not approached the senior judge in the civil section to indicate that a criminal case had collapsed and that he was free to help with civil cases, he said.
“The statistics indicate that out of the 20 days that you would have sat in court, 11 days you did not sit,” said Judge Patel.
Judge Madondo replied that he had been working on several other matters, including judgments and leave to appeal cases.
JSC commissioner CP Fourie questioned Judge Madondo on his stance over who should hold high-ranking judge president positions.
Fourie told Judge Madondo that, when he had been interviewed for the judge president’s position in October last year, he had said there were “imbalances” that needed “more insight”, and that they could “not be dealt with by some other person who is not an African” because not everyone had been oppressed “in the same way”.
This had also been the case in the legal profession.
Judge Madondo said this had not been his view “in the sense the commissioner took it”.
The commissioner who had asked the question at the time had been Koos van der Merwe.
Judge Madondo said it was his view that “maybe I would be better positioned” to address such issues.
By contrast, Judge Achmat Jappie, acting KZN deputy judge president – and the judge who stood in for Judge Patel while he was on long leave earlier this year – had an easier ride from Judge Patel who, one onlooker said, “just made nice speeches about him”.
Judge Jappie obviously had the support of Judge Patel and the support of most of the senior judges in the division.
He also seemed to be backed by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, who presented Judge Jappie as a “worker” whose continuing role in case-flow management – a strategy to streamline the criminal justice system – got cases going and finalised.
Judge Jappie not only chairs the KZN case-flow management committee, but also represents the province on the national committee which sits at the Constitutional Court.
Among the concerns raised by JSC members during Judge Jappie’s interview was that, if he was appointed, there would be no African representative at senior level in the division.
He was also asked why he had not made himself available before.
Judge Jappie said this was because, the first time round, when Judge Madondo went up against Judge Patel for the judge president job and no one applied for deputy, he had been sitting at the Labour Appeal Court.
In the last round for the deputy position, he had backed Judge Fikile Mokgohloa because he thought a woman should be appointed to the position.
Judge Madondo was her opposition, but the JSC declined to appoint anyone. – The Mercury
