MK PARTY deputy president John Hlophe says his withdrawal from the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) is a temporary setback, and he has vowed to “bounce back with a bang”.
The former judge president of the Western Cape High Court said the MK Party would field a new candidate to sit on the JSC while he challenged his exclusion in a legal process.
“I regard myself as a member of the JSC who was scared [off]. I was told in terms of the court order that emanated from the Western Cape High Court that I could not attend the proceedings for the JSC. I was told that if I wanted to attend, I [had to] sit and keep quiet,” Hlophe told the Sunday Times in an interview this week.
“I didn’t have time to go there and keep quiet. There was an attempt by the [MK Party’s] legal team to stop the proceedings of the JSC. We lost two successive games, and we know what happens in South Africa — you lose, and you lose, and you lose. I was a judge myself for 29 years. It did not surprise us when we lost, because we know the judiciary is captured. It’s as simple as that.”
The former judge believes the litigation brought against him is unfortunate, as it has prevented him from playing a meaningful role at the JSC, as he says is envisaged by the constitution.
“There is no provision in law for an alternat[iv]e member. We have to go back to the drawing board and get somebody else deployed. The decision to resign until finalisation of the proceedings by the Constitutional Court was strategic in the sense that the party [would] not [have been] represented on the JSC” had it not nominated another MP to sit on the body.
There was an attempt by the [MK Party’s] legal team to stop the proceedings of the JSC ... It did not surprise us when we lost, because we know the judiciary is captured
— John Hlophe, impeached former judge and MK Party deputy president
With upcoming JSC sittings in April and October 2025, Hlophe believes he is fully within his right to step back and allow the legal battle to be concluded before he claims his rightful place at the commission.
“If we want to be represented as the MKP on the JSC, the only way to ensure that is for me to withdraw with dignity and allow another member of the MKP to be deployed until my [legal] problems are over.”
This means he might yet take up his position on the JSC at a later date, and it is not the end of the road for him. “I will decide then, but I can assure you that I will bounce back with a bang,” he vowed.
Hlophe took aim at his detractors, saying they were the biggest anticonstitutionalists.
“If there is any political party that does not respect and obey the constitution, it is the DA. Regarding my case and the JSC, they lost the vote in parliament. There is no provision in the constitution that says a judge who was impeached cannot become an MP. I am an MP, and as such I can be deployed to any committee.”
Hlophe revealed his party had nominated him to sit on the parliamentary ethics committee, which he said raised questions about the consistency of the National Assembly’s processes.
“I am about to sit on the ethics committee in parliament. My party has nominated me — but I am currently a member of the justice portfolio committee, which, among other things, fixes the salaries and salary adjustments of judges. So I can sit and be a member of the justice portfolio committee and determine the salaries of judges, but I can’t sit and interview candidates who wish to be judges? It does not make sense.
“There is no law that says that. I am told it is a matter of morals, but our courts are courts of law and not courts of morality. And it is worse to be told by a land thief that I am immoral.”
Hlophe’s party launched its inaugural constitution on Friday, 10 months after it was formed. It allows dual membership with other parties in “exceptional and strategic” circumstances. The party’s president and founder, Jacob Zuma, was a card-carrying member of the ANC until he was recently expelled by Luthuli House.
The party has opened membership to eligible voters from the age of 16. The party also has a clause stating that all new members will be placed on 24 months’ probation — meaning their membership may summarily be cancelled by national officials at any point during the two-year period.
It aims to launch more than 23,000 branches nationwide in all voting districts, alongside regional provincial structures that will report to national officials.
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