The Judicial Service Commission met behind closed doors on Wednesday to discuss how to proceed with its probe into the dispute between Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe and Constitutional Court judges.

The JSC cancelled its planned closed preliminary hearing into the matter earlier this week.

Hlophe was briefly seen at The Bay Hotel in Camps Bay where the meeting was still underway at lunchtime. He was accompanied by his lawyer, Barnabas Xulu, but was not believed to have entered the venue where JSC members were conferring.

The decision to hold off on the matter was taken at the first JSC meeting on the matter to include President Jacob Zuma's new appointments to the JSC.

Hlophe was accused by judges of the country's highest court last May of an improper attempt to influence pending judgments relating to Zuma's now abandoned prosecution for corruption relating to the arms deal.