Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe is '100% certain' to be nominated for a position on the Constitutional Court Bench and for Chief Justice, says University of Cape Town deputy registrar of legal services Paul Ngobeni.

Four justices appointed by former President Nelson Mandela - Justice Pius Langa and Kate O'Regan, Yvonne Mokgoro and Albie Sachs - are due to retire in October and the Judicial Services Commission has called for nominations for their replacement. A Cape Argus report says their successors will be appointed by President Jacob Zuma after he has consulted the commission and leaders of opposition parties. Ngobeni, who is also credited as being part of the team that masterminded the strategy which led to the dropping of Zuma's corruption charges, has been at the helm of the drive to have Hlophe appointed. Ngobeni is quoted in the report as saying there was a 'strong effort' by numerous legal practitioners to nominate Hlophe for the position of Chief Justice. Furthermore, Hlophe would not need to be interviewed or recommended by the commission for him to be appointed Chief Justice, Ngobeni said. He pointed to Section 174 of the Constitution, which deals with the appointment of judicial officers, noting it makes a distinction between the process to be followed in the appointment of the Chief and Deputy Chief Justices, and that of ordinary judges. It is only in the case of the latter that the President makes his selection from a list prepared by the commission.
Full Cape Argus report

The four retiring justices are to adjudicate their last cases on 11 October. The deadline for nominations to replace them is 15 July, and the interviews will take place in Johannesburg on 5 September. The nominations must be accompanied by the nominee's written consent and the standard questionnaire completed and signed by the nominee,' said a statement by Langa.
Full Mail & Guardian Online report

The Hlophe issue has caused a stir at the University of Cape Town (UCT), with the university's deputy registrar of legal services, Paul Ngobeni, who has since resigned, describing the law faculty as beset by a racist 'group of gangsters' bent on entrenching white domination of the Bench. According to a report on the IoL site, this follows a spat between UCT's newly appointed chair of constitutional governance, Pierre de Vos, and Ngobeni after a recent radio debate on the merits of a possible nomination to head the Constitutional Court of embattled Cape Judge President John Hlophe. On his Constitutionally Speaking blog, De Vos denies Ngobeni's claim that he 'hated' Hlophe, insisting that his words, published on the Web site, had been selectively quoted. De Vos said although he welcomed debate, Ngobeni had failed 'to stick to the facts' and had instead made personal attacks against him.
Full report on the IoL site
De Vos blog