Serjeant at the Bar | JSC casts shadow on Zondo's push for academic appointments on the Bench

The obstacle is not the pool of talent but the egregious behaviour of the JSC over several years, which acts as a deterrent to talented judges who do not wish to be subjected to the kind of interview that has characterised JSC hearings, writes Serjeant at the Bar.

During the October interviews conducted by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) for judicial appointments, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo announced he was considering the appointment of academic lawyers and members of the Bar to act on the Constitutional Court.

The motivation for this announcement was somewhat unclear, but it appears the Chief Justice was responding to the difficulty experienced by the JSC in attracting sufficient qualified nominees for vacancies on the apex courts and, in particular, the Constitutional Court.