Question NW146 to the President of the Republic
13 April 2022 - NW146
Schreiber, Dr LA to ask the President of the Republic
Whether, with reference to the process regarding the appointment of the next Chief Justice of the Republic, he received any correspondence and/or input, in any format whatsoever, from the deployment committee of any interested party regarding the specified deployment committee or interested party’s preferred candidate(s) for appointment to the specified position; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details in each case?
Reply:
No. I have received correspondence from the leaders of political parties represented in Parliament and the Judicial Service Commission, as required by the Constitution.
Section 174(3) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, requires the President as the head of the national executive, after consulting leaders of political parties represented in the National Assembly and the Judicial Service Commission, to appoint the Chief Justice.
For the purpose of promoting transparency and encouraging public participation, I invited the public to nominate suitable persons to be considered for the appointment as Chief Justice. I appointed a Panel of eminent persons with relevant experience to shortlist candidates from the list of nominees.
As required by the provisions of the Constitution, I have consulted the leaders of the political parties represented in the National Assembly and the Judicial Service Commission on the candidates I identified from the shortlist for the appointment of the Chief Justice. This process has been concluded as I have received the responses from the political parties’ leaders and the Judicial Service Commission.