WEBVTT - JSC begins interview 

0:00:00.070 --> 0:00:05.360
<v Speaker 1>The Judicial Service Commission interviewing judges this week for vacancies.

0:00:05.660 --> 0:00:07.540
<v Speaker 1>A big focus on the Eastern Cape. And we know

0:00:07.560 --> 0:00:10.900
<v Speaker 1>the Eastern Cape judge, President Salbien Benengue, of course, in

0:00:10.940 --> 0:00:16.750
<v Speaker 1>the midst of a controversy with the sexual allegations against him.

0:00:16.770 --> 0:00:20.950
<v Speaker 1>Khamotsu Modise, EWN reporter, speaking to us now. Khamotsu, good

0:00:21.010 --> 0:00:23.270
<v Speaker 1>afternoon to you. Take us through some of the interviews

0:00:23.310 --> 0:00:24.130
<v Speaker 1>taking place today.

0:00:25.680 --> 0:00:28.170
<v Speaker 2>Good afternoon, Mandy. Yes, we've got a focus on the

0:00:28.250 --> 0:00:30.810
<v Speaker 2>Eastern Cape today, which should take most of the day

0:00:30.850 --> 0:00:34.070
<v Speaker 2>in terms of interviews. The vacancy that's being filled here

0:00:34.210 --> 0:00:38.170
<v Speaker 2>is that of Deputy Judge President. And we've already had

0:00:38.310 --> 0:00:41.640
<v Speaker 2>two candidates on the stand or two candidates in the

0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:44.780
<v Speaker 2>hot seat, I should say, Judge Fatima Dawood, as well

0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:47.590
<v Speaker 2>as Judge Buiswa Machiki. And You know, as you mentioned

0:00:47.630 --> 0:00:51.120
<v Speaker 2>in the intro, you know, around what's been happening there

0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:56.420
<v Speaker 2>with regards to the suspended Judge President Sabine Benengi, the

0:00:56.440 --> 0:01:00.580
<v Speaker 2>question around the views on sexual harassment has featured quite

0:01:00.700 --> 0:01:04.270
<v Speaker 2>prominently for both candidates with questions around that being asked.

0:01:04.290 --> 0:01:07.630
<v Speaker 2>You know, Mandy, there's the sexual harassment policy, which is really,

0:01:07.990 --> 0:01:10.009
<v Speaker 2>which seems to be a big part of the legacy

0:01:10.069 --> 0:01:13.029
<v Speaker 2>of Chief Justice Mandy Samaya. And so the question around

0:01:13.390 --> 0:01:15.720
<v Speaker 2>the views on sexual harassment and how that should be

0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:18.520
<v Speaker 2>dealt with in the courts will feature quite a bit

0:01:18.640 --> 0:01:21.860
<v Speaker 2>in all of the interviews. However, another interesting part of

0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:24.059
<v Speaker 2>the interviews here for the Eastern Cape, and it's something

0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:29.110
<v Speaker 2>that we were expecting, is the views around the administrative

0:01:29.290 --> 0:01:33.110
<v Speaker 2>challenges within the Eastern Cape High Court. We know that

0:01:33.209 --> 0:01:37.370
<v Speaker 2>in terms of administration, the Eastern Cape Division, particularly the

0:01:37.450 --> 0:01:41.420
<v Speaker 2>Umtata High Court, has been considered to be rather dysfunctional.

0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:43.960
<v Speaker 2>And that's why the candidates that are being interviewed today

0:01:44.060 --> 0:01:49.720
<v Speaker 2>are being asked about those administrative problems, particularly Judge Fatima Dawood,

0:01:50.180 --> 0:01:53.930
<v Speaker 2>who's acted from time to time as Deputy Judge President already.

0:01:54.450 --> 0:01:56.750
<v Speaker 2>And this morning we heard Chief Justice Mandy Samaya, who's

0:01:56.790 --> 0:01:59.650
<v Speaker 2>the chair of these proceedings, of course, asking whether she's

0:01:59.690 --> 0:02:02.160
<v Speaker 2>not running away or seeking to run away from the

0:02:02.250 --> 0:02:06.000
<v Speaker 2>Umtata High Court that is dysfunctional in order to go

0:02:06.140 --> 0:02:08.880
<v Speaker 2>to the Kabecha High Court, where she would be stationed

0:02:08.940 --> 0:02:10.920
<v Speaker 2>if she was to be appointed to a court that

0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:14.080
<v Speaker 2>is already being run well by those who are at

0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:16.840
<v Speaker 2>the helm there. So the dysfunction of the Eastern Cape

0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:19.790
<v Speaker 2>Division always comes up when there's these interviews. And the

0:02:19.830 --> 0:02:22.910
<v Speaker 2>question is, what's being done by those who are in

0:02:23.030 --> 0:02:26.030
<v Speaker 2>leadership positions in that part of the country to deal

0:02:26.070 --> 0:02:28.930
<v Speaker 2>with the challenges. I mean, we're hearing about issues like files,

0:02:30.090 --> 0:02:33.730
<v Speaker 2>case files being stashed under sofas. And that, of course,

0:02:33.770 --> 0:02:38.030
<v Speaker 2>has an effect on the administrative of justice, administration of justice, rather,

0:02:38.330 --> 0:02:39.220
<v Speaker 2>in that division.

0:02:39.940 --> 0:02:43.260
<v Speaker 1>Homoto, thank you very much. Homoto Modise, EWN reporter, speaking

0:02:43.300 --> 0:02:47.140
<v Speaker 1>to us there about the JSC interviews currently underway.