The MK Party has formally written to the Speaker of the National Assembly to withdraw the nomination of their party leader in Parliament, Dr. John Hlophe, effective immediately. Hlophe will no longer run as one of the designated members of the National Assembly to serve in the Judicial Service Commission (JSC). 

A VIOLATION OF THE CONSTITUTION

Party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela said they will not allow Hlophe's name to be associated with JSC, which he said is used to legitimise a patently misleading, fraudulent and improperly constituted Judicial Service Commission. "The MK Party maintains that the composition of the JSC, without Dr. Hlophe's participation as a representative from the leading opposition party, violates Section 178(1)(h) of the Constitution," Ndhlela said.

UNDERMINED 

Ndhlela added that the JSC has failed to meet the prescribed minimum threshold of three members from the opposition parties. "We further believe that the will of the overwhelming number of people in South Africa, who voted for the participation of Dr. Hlophe in all Parliament duties. He has been severely and constitutionally undermined," added Ndhlela. On Saturday, the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg dismissed with costs the urgent bid to postpone the JSC sitting by the MK Party and Dr. Hlophe. Making her ruling, Judge Stuart Wilson said the JSC's decision to proceed with its October 2024 sitting did not infringe, even prima facie, any of the MK Party's or Dr. Hlophe's rights. "Assuming in the applicant's favour that their constitutional rights have been limited, the source of any such limitation was the full court's order, not the JSC's conduct in light of that order," he said.