Former Judge President
in 1995, Judge Hlophe aged 36, was appointed to sit as the first black judge in the High Court in Cape Town and has been Judge President of this Division since 2000. A brilliant mind propelled him from rural poverty to becoming a Law Professor before being appointed as a judge. On 21 February 2024 he became the first Judge to be Impeached in Democratic South Africa.
Former Judge Hlophe was embroiled in numerous controversies during his time on the bench, but the one that probably was a case of him flying too close to the sun – like Icarus too ambitious for his own good, was him meddling in Zuma’s cases. In March 2008 Constitutional Court Justices Bess Nkabinde and Chris Jafta stated that Hlophe had personally tried to convince them to give judgments in favour of then South African President Jacob Zuma in two cases that implicated Zuma of corrupt activities and they laid a complaint against him.
But trouble was also brewing back home on the Cape Bench. The complaint filed by the Deputy Judge President of the Western Cape High Court, Patricia Goliath, a black woman, might have been the ‘unkindest cut’ of all. On 15 January 2020 she lodged a complaint with the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) alleging a wide range of serious incidents of misconduct by Hlophe. These included allegations of "attempting to influence judicial appointments, assaulting fellow judges, sexual impropriety and creating a climate of hostility and fear in chambers."
On 21 February 2024, Hlophe was impeached from the office of President of the Western Cape High Court after a majority of 305 members in Parliament voted in favour of his removal, with 25 members rejecting the motion. It was the end of the road for a brilliant mind, a distinquished lawyer, and a powerful presence in the judiciary for most of the first quarter century of South Africa’s young democracy. A spectacular fall from HERO TO ZERO.
Hlophe enrolled as an LLB student at the University of Natal in 1982, but to slip the coils of apartheid laws, Hlophe had to register a fictitious job as a gardener. He later studied at Cambridge University and qualified to enter the Cambridge Doctoral Studies Programme. Hlophe was regarded as a brilliant legal academic and authored several papers that are regarded by his peers as valuable contributions to the law.
So what propelled this man who has achieved so much despite the mountains he had to climb, to destroy his career? Maybe it was this:
"The fall from hero to zero is paved with arrogance." - Patrick Lencioni, an American author best known for his book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team – a book that explores the fundamental causes of failure.
I appeared a few times before Judge Hlophe as counsel and always found him very impressive, and yet disarming, both in chambers and in open court but I read with alarm the reports typical of someone who was becoming a law unto himself. As is so often the case, brilliant achievements and abject failure are separated by a razor-thin line – unfortunately our previous Judge President had crossed that line more than once.
It is testament to the independence of the judiciary and the credibility of South Africa’s constitutional order, that due process was followed and in the end the parliament has taken the painful, but rightful decision to respect the values enshrined in our democratic constitution.
I hope that the Impeached Judge will find it in his heart to once again begin a new journey. He has paid a very high price. He also has the opportunity for redemption. In the end, I am sending former Judge Hlophe these words by Denis Waitley [motivational speaker with a very popular audio series ‘Seeds of Greatness’] to remember and guide him:
“Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker.”