Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe and two senior colleagues who accused him of gross misconduct will be interviewed for four vacancies at the Constitutional Court, the Star reported on Tuesday.

A shortlist provided by a Judicial Service Commission (JSC) subcommittee at the weekend also includes top Cape advocate Jeremy Gauntlett, who was once accused by Hlophe of racism in a leaked memorandum to then justice minister Brigitte Mabandla in 2005.

The JSC received a total of 28 nominations for the four vacancies, and the shortlist now stood at 23.

The shortlist, which was circulated on Monday to the wider JSC, also included Johannesburg High Court Judge Nigel Willis, who, in a minority judgment, differed from a ruling that a JSC inquiry into the complaint against Hlophe should be heard afresh.

It also included Judge Robert Nugent, who ruled against Hlophe in favour of the Constitutional Court when its judges appealed against a different Johannesburg High Court judgment in favour of the judge president.

The JSC subcommittee opted not to exclude Hlophe, and Supreme Court of Appeal judges Chris Jafta and Franklin Kroon, who, as acting Constitutional Court judges, aligned themselves with a complaint against Hlophe headed by Chief Justice Pius Langa.

The JSC interviews would take place in Kliptown, Soweto, from 5 to 7 September.

Jafta and Kroon were acting on the Constitutional Court last year when Hlophe was alleged to have tried to influence Jafta and Justice Bess Nkabinde who were working on a judgment relating to ANC president Jacob Zuma.

All the justices of the Constitutional Court lodged a complaint with the JSC over this. Hlophe, in turn, lodged a counter-complaint against the 13 judges, including Kroon and Jafta, which has yet to be concluded by the JSC.

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