Israel has knowingly and deliberately continued to act in defiance of the [International Court of Justice] Order. In addition to causing the death by starvation of Palestinian children in babies, Israel has also continued to kill approximately 4,548 Palestinian men, women and children since 26 January 2024, and to wound a further 7,556, bringing the grim totals to 30,631 killed and 72,043 injured. An unknown number of bodies remain buried under the rubble. 1.7 million Palestinians remain displaced — many of them permanently, Israel having damaged or destroyed approximately 60 per cent of the housing stock in Gaza. Approximately 1.4 million people are squeezed into Rafah — which Israel has stated it intends to attack imminently. Israel’s destruction of the Palestinian healthcare system has also continued apace, with ongoing, repeated attacks on hospitals, healthcare, ambulances and medics. Israel has also continued to conduct widespread attacks on schools, mosques, businesses and entire villages and areas.
In a statement, the commission said there was no evidence to contradict Hlophe’s assertion that he had received oral permission from Dullah Omar, the late minister of justice, to receive a retainer from the company.
This is, to say the least, a perplexing outcome that smells of politics and not of principle. I have a few questions for those members of the JSC who endorsed this strange outcome.
This outcome is deeply unsatisfactory. Some brothers and sisters among us will of course say that my criticism is proof of racism – that I assume all black people are corrupt and that Judge Hlophe is the victim of a conspiracy. If we do not believe his story it is because we do not want to believe black people – ever.
I have considered this possibility but I hope I am motivated not by such base assunptions but by concern for the integrity of the judicial system. A system that was so fatally tainted in the apartheid era and that we are trying so hard to rehabilitate.
I will fess up to racism if, and only if, anyone can provide me with satisfactory answers to the above questions. What is required, really, is for the JSC to present us with ALL the facts: from the date on which Justice Hlophe first received money from Oasis; the basis for this payment; how much was paid; when did it stop? If this information is not provided, a cloud will hkeep on hanging over Justice Hlophe and now also over the JSC.
In the absence of a full explanation by the JSC, it would be hard not to suspect that racial solidarity won out over principle and common sense at the JSC. In my eyes they have shot themselves in the foot big time. Only full disclosure can begin to restore their credibility. Today is a dark day for the judicial system in South Africa.
PS: See also my previous post on Justice Hlophe which seems a bit optimistic now.
BACK TO TOP