Seven Western Cape High Court judges have thrown their hats into the ring to become the court’s next Judge President.
The list includes the acting judge president Patricia Goliath.
The vacancy has been left following the impeachment of the country’s longest-serving High Court Judge President John Hlophe in February.
Hlophe now finds himself at the centre of another legal battle with at least three court applications filed to stop him serving on the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) before these candidates are interviewed to replace him.
The JSC has not interviewed candidates for the position of judge president of the Western Cape High Court since Hlophe was appointed to the job in 2000.
His former deputy Goliath who has in the past laid complaints against Hlophe with the JSC, will vie for the job alongside Justice Andre le Grange, who lost out to her for the deputy position in 2016.
Other candidates include Justices Nolwazi Mabindla-Boqwana and Babalwa Mantame who were first appointed as High Court Judges in the Western Cape in 2013.
Mabindla-Boqwana has since moved to the Supreme Court of Appeal, while Mantame has also been serving in an acting capacity there since June.
Less experienced justices all appointed within the last five years include Denzil Potgieter from the Eastern Cape bench and Hayley Slingers and Daniel Thulare both also serving in the Western Cape.
They are due to be interviewed by the JSC in October.
Before then the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Freedom Under Law are both asking the same court to void Parliament’s decision to designate Hlophe to serve as a commissioner on the panel.
Afriforum is taking its battle against Hlophe’s designation straight to the Constitutional Court.
-EWN
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