Honesty in chief justice search is key

On Friday, deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo will take the hot seat to be interviewed for the position of the head of our judiciary. 

This week, we watched as three credible candidates for the chief justice post, Mbuyiseli Madlanga, Mandisa Maya and Dustan Mlambo took turns to tell the nation why they believe they ought to lead our apex court.

These interviews come at a time when our judiciary has been put on trial, mostly by rogue politicians and their supporters whose mission is to push back against the principle of legal accountability for their crimes.

They have, to some degree, created public narratives that seek to discredit the legitimacy of our courts.

Typically, they point to individual judges as figureheads of this fictional war against the people of this country. It is for this reason, similarly to that of Gauteng judge president Mlambo yesterday, Zondo’s interview on Friday is likely to be a contentious one.

Not so much because of his jurisprudence or competence as a jurist but because in the eyes of those who operate in a cloak and dagger world of baseless theories, Mlambo and Zondo in particular have come to represent torment.

As such, they are often on the receiving end of vitriol with dangerous accusations about the capture of our judiciary.

Predictably, these dynamics also play out at the Judicial Services Commission, where some of the proponents of these narratives, like EFF leader Julius Malema, sit.

Some of the questions to Mlambo yesterday were clearly designed to serve a populist attempt to regurgitate these claims on a platform where the power dynamics are such that he is obliged to respond and defend himself to the panel. 

We can expect the same when Zondo takes centre stage today. Such is the nature of the politics of the process.

As citizens, our duty is to discern whether those in front of us are fit to lead our complex and hugely challenged court system. 

We must discern whether they are committed to strengthen the administration of our court system, to open up access to justice for all, to promote transparency and legal accountability and perhaps most of all, to lead with integrity.

This is the ultimate criteria President Cyril Ramaphosa should obsess over when he makes the final choice for of our next chief justice.