Human Rights & Public Liberties

Human Rights & Public Liberties

Newsletter
Published on: 13 Jan, 2021

South African Chief Justice ordered to apologise for pro-Israel statements

Published on: 6 March, 2021

South African Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng was directed by the Judicial Conduct Committee (JCC) to apologise unconditionally for ‘becoming involved in political controversy.’

The controversy arose from statements made by Mogoeng during an online webinar hosted by The Jerusalem Post on 23 June 2020 and at a virtual prayer meeting in July 2020.

At the webinar he said he believed South Africa would do well to consider adopting a more objective stance on Israel and the Israeli -Palestinian conflict and ventured that ‘hatred’ of the Jewish state could ‘attract unprecedented curses upon our nation’.

At the prayer meeting in July making Mogoeng said he would rather ‘perish’ than apologise for what he said.

Apart from being Chief Justce, Mogoeng is also a lay pastor in his church.

Three organisations, Africa 4 Palestine, SA Boycott Disinvestment and Sanctions Coalition and the Women’s Cultural Group laid complaints against the Chief Justice for contravening judicial ethics rules by participating in the webinar in which the Chief Rabbi of South Africa also participated.

The Chief Justice was found to be in contravention of various provisions of the Code of Judicial Conduct. He was instructed to retract his statements and to make a public apology. The wording of the apology was set out in the decision.

The JCC is part of the South African Judicial Services Commission which deals with complaints against judges.

Salim Vally, professor at the University of Johannesburg, said to Al Jazeera: ‘An apology is a start but clearly he needs to be educated about the colonization of Palestine and the daily racism and human rights violations Palestinians face.’

According to Vally ‘judges need to respect the dignity of their office and stick to the law instead of reverting to prejudice and bigotry.’

This is not the first time the Chief Justice has attracted criticism for his controversial statements. In December, again speaking at a prayer meeting, Mogoeng linked the coronavirus vaccine to satanism.

Mogoeng has the option of taking the JCC’s decision on review.