The Judicial Conduct Tribunal hearing of 10 Western Cape High Court judges who filed official complaints with the Judicial Service Commission against Judge Mushtak Parker is set to commence next week after it was postponed by about four years owing to his health condition.
The tribunal has set down the dates February 24-28 for the case to be heard virtually.
The tribunal hearing could spell the impeachment of Parker if he is found guilty of misconduct in which he is accused of providing conflicting versions of an alleged assault on former judge president John Hlophe, and thereby lying under oath.
Parker had allegedly deposed an affidavit saying that he was physically assaulted by Hlophe and then, a year later, retracted that version in a contradictory affidavit.
Parker’s affidavit stated under oath that he was assaulted by Hlophe in his chambers on February 25, 2019. A year later in January 2020, Western Cape Deputy Judge President Patricia Goliath filed a 14-page complaint against Hlophe and his former wife Judge Gayaat Salie-Hlophe.
In her affidavit, Goliath stated that the assault on her dignity by Hlophe rendered her working conditions intolerable.
Hlophe denied having assaulted Parker and accused Goliath of making malicious allegations, based on rumour and gossip.
In the second complaint, the Cape Bar Council accused Judge Parker of misconduct for not disclosing pertinent information in his application and at his interview to be a judge, and effectively lying by omission.
This information relates to the professional affairs of his former law firm, which is accused by the Legal Practice Council of possibly misusing over R8 million of client monies (through running up a deficit in a client’s trust account) and that Parker had a role in this as a partner in the law firm.
Affidavits were made by judges Dennis Davis, Siraj Desai, Yasmin Shenaaz Meer, Lee Bozalek, Ashley Binns-Ward, Elizabeth Steyn, Patrick Gamble, Robert Henney, Owen Rogers, and Mark Sher.
The two complaints were referred to the Judicial Conduct Committee by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng in May 2020.
The Judicial Conduct Committee made the recommendation to the Judicial Service Commission that the two complaints be investigated and reported upon by a tribunal.
During October, the Judicial Service Commission advised President Cyril Ramaphosa to suspend Parker pending the findings of the tribunal. He has been suspended on full pay since 2020.