Judge Dikgang Moseneke to help preside over South Africa’s contentious genocide case against Israel at ICJ

Former deputy judge president Dikgang Moseneke has been appointed as an ad-hoc judge to join the 15 regular judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) later this month when it hears South Africa’s application for Israel’s military assault on Gaza to be declared as genocide.

Moseneke will be on the bench when the court decides on whether or not to order Israel to cease its attacks on Gaza as a provisional measure, pending the later determination on whether its actions contravene the Genocide Convention.

Clayson Monyela, spokesperson for the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) confirmed to Daily Maverick that Moseneke had agreed to hear the case. 

“Under Article 31, paragraphs 2 and 3, of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, a State party (#SouthAfrica??) to a case before the #ICJ which does not have a judge of its nationality on the Bench may choose a person to sit as judge ad hoc in that specific case,” he said.

“Accordingly, SA has approached Justice Dikgang Moseneke, who has agreed to join the other ICJ judges on the bench and hear our case against Israel.”

Monyela also noted that Dire Tladi, the former Dirco law adviser and University of Pretoria law professor, would start his tenure as an ICJ judge in February.

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Under ICJ rules, a country may not have more than one judge on the bench at a time. Legal sources said this probably means that Moseneke will only hear the first part of the Israel case, the decision on the provisional measure which should be settled by the end of January or soon after.

They said Moseneke would then probably stand down as Tladi would take his place on the bench alongside the 14 other regular judges to hear the substantive part of the Israel case. It is not clear if this means Tladi was elected to the ICJ by the UN General Assembly last year,

Israel has vehemently denied that it is committing genocide in Gaza and has accused South Africa of aiding and abetting Hamas by bringing the case to the ICJ. DM