LAW & DISORDER

Top judges in the high court in Cape Town are at loggerheads amid allegations of assault, corruption and nepotism

- JOANIE BERGH

IT’S the highest court in the province, a place where decisions are made every day that determine the rest of people’s lives. Men and women who’ve studied for years to either fight for the rights of their clients or sit in judgment of others walk these corridors every day, discussing the finer points of the law, the outcome of cases, the testimony of witnesses.

But lately, another topic has dominated conversation in the long corridors and polished hallways of the high court in Cape Town. Everyone from advocate to prosecutor and clerk to cleaner is talking about one thing: the ongoing drama involving the deputy judge president, her boss the judge president and his wife, who’s also a judge.

Deputy judge president Patricia Goliath (55) opened a can of worms when she lodged a complaint of gross misconduct with the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) against judge president John Hlophe (61), accusing him of nepotism, verbal abuse, assault, mismanagement, and corruption, among other things.

His wife of four years, judge Gayaat Salie-Hlophe (45), also came under fire.

In her statement, Goliath alleges Hlophe and Salie-Hlophe are compromising the management of the court and have cultivated an atmosphere of fear and intimidation. She also accuses Hlophe of victimizing judges and giving his wife preferential treatment.

The couple call the shots in the division and several judges are afraid of Salie-Hlophe, according to Goliath.

Some judges are praising Goliath for being the whistle-blower everyone’s been waiting for and are commending her for her courage in finally coming forward. But it seems the whole business is damaging the judiciary as other legal practitioners and their clients question the credibility of the bench.