Huge majority of MPs vote to impeach Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe

On Wednesday afternoon, hours after suspended Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe’s urgent application to halt proceedings was scrapped from the court roll, Parliament voted overwhelmingly – 305 yeas to 27 nays – for the process of his removal from office to begin.

Later, MPs also voted for Judge Nkola Motata, who had attempted to wriggle out of a drunk driving incident by lying, to be removed by 296 yeas, one nay and 13 abstentions. Motata, alongside Hlophe, had also turned to the courts to stave off the vote.

Their impeachments result in the loss of the salaries for life paid to judges.

But what is a vote in the National Assembly without members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) being dragged out by Parliament’s protection services after endless trading of insults and jibes?

Earlier, presiding officer Cedrik Frolik announced that suspended EFF leader Julius Malema and five other suspended EFF members, as well as ANC MP and deputy minister Dipuo Peters, would not be allowed to vote.

Peters, deputy minister of small business development, was suspended in November 2023 for her role in State Capture, maladministration, corruption and mismanagement at Prasa.

Read more in Daily Maverick: John Hlophe — the Judge President who fought the law; decades later, the law won

After the vote, EFF bruisers Victoria Mente, Hlengiwe Mkaliphi, Nqobile Mhlongo and Natasha Ntlangwini were all escorted out for yelling that Freedom Front+ chief whip Corne Mulder was “the son of a racist” and thus also one.

Former Public Protector, fellow impeachee and now EFF MP Busisiwe Mkhwebane likened the vote to the “selling out of our liberation ideas”. She accused people with “racist tendencies” for abusing Hlophe who had served “with dignity”.

Democratic Alliance MP and shadow minister of justice and constitutional development Glynnis Breytenbach said Hlophe’s impeachment was “a pivotal moment in South Africa’s judiciary”.

Afterwards, a DA statement said that after 15 years, the party’s position that Hlophe “lacks the integrity to be a judge has been affirmed by the National Assembly which has adopted a resolution supporting the Judicial Service Commission’s finding that Hlophe should be removed”.

In the statement, Breytenbach continued that this was “a historic moment in our democratic history, where, for the first time, a judge will be impeached”.

The vote on Wednesday underscored “the importance of upholding the highest ethical standards, the rule of law, and the Constitution among judicial officers”, she said.

It also sent a clear message that “no one, regardless of their position or influence, is above the law”. DM