President Cyril Ramaphosa has received names of six candidates nominated to be South Africa’s next Chief Justice following the retirement of Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng who left office last month after 10 years of service to the judiciary, APA learnt on Sunday.
The panel handling the exercise, chaired by Judge Navanethem Pillay, has nominated Judge President John Hlophe, Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, and Mandisa Maya, President of the Supreme Court of Appeal as candidates.
The other candidates are Judge President Dunstan Mlambo, Senior Counsel Alan Nelson, and Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, who has been chairing the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture in the past two years.
The panel convened after Ramaphosa took “the unprecedented step” of inviting public nominations for the position at the Constitutional Court in what the presidency said was an effort “to promote transparency and encourage public participation” in democracy.
According to the high office, the due processes still needed to be undertaken even after Ramaphosa selects his preferred candidates.
This entailed the president to submit the names to the Judiciary Service Commission and leaders of the House for further consultations, the presidency said.
“The President will decide which candidate(s) from the shortlist presented to him by the panel to refer to the Judicial Service Commission and the leaders of political parties represented in the National Assembly for consultation in line with the Constitution,” the presidency said.
NM/jn/APA